What Destiny Reads
by Liz Jade Skywalker
Summary: ANH AU. Luke Skywalker is a three year old kid stuck in an orphange until one day he runs into Darth Vader.


Note: I DID NOT WRITE THIS It was written by jade_angel86, but I'm putting it up because she's having trouble converting stuff to HTML ****

Note: I DID NOT WRITE THIS It was written by jade_angel86, but I'm putting it up because she's having trouble converting stuff to HTML. All intellectual property here is either George Lucas', Timothy Zahn's, or hers.

Part One: A Path of New Beginnings

A boy not much older than the age of three sat across from Darth Vader in the Dark Lord's inner sanctum of his sombre Castle. His sandy blond hair and dark tanned skin implied the boy came from a rather hot climate. The child sat there squirming, staring at the ground. He was obviously not very patient and was apt to kicking the legs of his chair with his feet. 

It was strange for Vader to even be in the same room as a child, especially one that was this young. What made this entire situation even stranger was that this child, wasn't even afraid of Vader. There was no tremble to the lips or the cowering looks that little children took to when they were scared. 

It wasn't that Darth Vader hated children, actually, he found them rather amusing. It was just the way children reacted to him that made him stay away from them. At first sight of Vader, they would either scream and run away in terror or cry and wait for their parents to quickly run onto the scene. He couldn't really blame them either, here he was, a monstrosity that part man and part machine. This was all the thought of Obi-Wan that children would be so fearful of him.

Not this child, he just sat there, staring at him every so often. Vader didn't know what to do with this boy. The fact that this boy, was Luke Skywalker, his very own son still rattled his cages. It was how they first met that convinced Vader that this boy was special.

It was a fairly good day on Imperial Centre, sunlight pierced the clouds of the city planet and caused the weather to be fairly warm. Seen from above atmosphere, Coruscant would have looked like a glowing ball of metal. It wasn't such a wonder that a planet entirely covered with city would become the centre of the galaxy. 

As far as Luke could recall, he'd been an orphan since he was very little. He knew that for a while, he'd been raised by his uncle and aunt. He had only one memory of them, they died from a Tusken Raider attack and he'd been only survivor. That was when he was found by the Darklighter family and sent off to the Tatooine orphanage. It was pretty strange for a boy native to Tatooine to suddenly be flung across the galaxy as he'd been. 

Luke was adopted by another family that moved from Tatooine to Coruscant. He lived with them for barely a month before they came down with a fatal disease. Stranger then the disease was how the boy miraculously came out of the epidemic without so much as a cough. That was when he'd been sent to the Coruscant Orphanage. Luke liked being on Coruscant, he'd lived on the city planet for almost three years now and was getting used to the loud noise. His only friends in the orphanage were a pair of twins. Even so, he always felt some what of an outcast.

Luke was on a field trip with the orphans, it was a tour through the Imperial Palace. It was a small commercial adventure on the Emperor's part, earning a few more decacredits to add on his account. These trips were held on a regular basis and gave a brief tour of the outside perimeter of the Palace before ending it in the throne room. While the tour was short, it was still pretty impressive. They passed through fully decorated corridors large enough to fit a tree from Endor.

While on this tour, Luke once again became wrapped up in one of his flights of fancy. He was imagining that he was a fighter pilot and blasting up enemy space crafts or a brave soldier who was shooting up people. When Luke finally snapped out of his dream, he realized that he was alone and no longer with the other group. His heart pounded as he quickly glanced around, him. Though he saw no one, he was pretty sure he heard them just around the corner, he'd better catch up to them, the caretakers weren't very kind when a child got lost on one of these field trips. The worst possible scenario would be if they made him stay back at the orphanage on future field trips. With his punishment in mind, he dashed across the hallway and turned around the corner, only to plow right into someone. He fell back and slid across the floor on his bottom before actually coming to a complete stop. 

He glanced up and blushed, " I-I'm really sorry," he stammered. When Luke realized who it was that he'd rammed into, he was really sorry.

Even Luke knew who this dark personage was. Dressed in black and wearing such a strange mask. Rumours and stories that didn't go very well towards this dark man known as Darth Vader. Kids at the orphanage mainly the older ones, said that Vader wore that mask to scare people intentionally. Luke could remember the stories he heard about Vader and how much he admired the man whenever he heard them. And it was said that Vader had special powers. Luke got hooked because he used to read stories about the Jedi in magazines and he also read stories about how Vader got rid of the Jedi. That man must be strong if he could destroy all of the Jedi. 

Such a shame too, he had always wanted to meet a Jedi, but Vader was the closest thing. He even had a cut out pictures of the Jedi and Vader tacked onto his bedroom wall along with his star fighter pictures and a couple of posters from a magazine.

" Darth Vader!" he exclaimed with awe. 

The Dark Lord stared down at the boy, he would have been angry. No on dared to bump into him, not even by accident, but here this child, no older than the age of three, just ramming right into him and even he knew who he was. Yet, this child was not running away in fear like most children do. For some reason, he couldn't feel that anger boiling up inside of him like it usually did. No, instead of anger, he felt startled. For a brief moment he thought he was looking at an old holo-projector of himself.

" What are you doing in these halls alone?" Vader snapped. He had no experience dealing with children whatsoever and usually most of his statements would come out in rather harsh tones.

" I... I got lost," the child answered. He wasn't exactly afraid, Vader could sense the fear coming from this child, yet under all that fear was this... respect. The child seemed to be admiring him.

" Lost," Vader repeated with contempt. Under his mask, his face somewhat softened, there was something very familiar about that child. He stared into the boy's cool blue eyes, they were a shade of sky blue. When he looked at this child, he saw himself when-he was young.

" What were you doing here?" Vader said trying to soften his tone and failing.

" I was on a trip," the boy answered innocently, his fear was slowly melting away only to be filled with excitement. He blushed, " and I was sort of daydreaming..." He trailed off.

Vader didn't like children, but this child was different. He was actually amused by the emotions he was reading off from this child.

" Daydreaming? About what?"

" That I was a fighter pilot," Luke answered honestly. He'd heard somewhere that it was no use lying to Vader. He was a man who could read thoughts. He wondered if Vader could read his thoughts right now. 

" A fighter pilot?" Now Vader was wholly amused by the boy's answer. " I suppose you like starships and racing?"

" Yes!" Luke exclaimed he grinned, " I want to be a fighter pilot when I grow up, but the others say that I'd never make it."

" Do you have the skills?" Vader asked, of course it was a little too premature to ask such a question.

" Well, I always get top scores in the holo-races," Luke answered. " I scored the best time once."

" If that's the case, than you have nothing to worry about, becoming a fighter pilot is a hard job, but I sense that your ambitions will come true," Vader said, he also added, " I hope that you will be able to serve under my fleet when you grow older."

Luke's eyes lit up. " Thank you, sir."

" Luke!" a voice exclaimed from down the hallway. 

Luke turned to see the Caretaker running up towards him. She engulfed him in a bear hug and when that was over, she held him back at arm's length and studied him over.

" Oh, Luke! I was worried about you," she said, " what made you run away anyway?"

" I didn't run away!" Luke protested, " I just kind of got lost."

" Lost? Luke Skywalker, how many times did I tell you to keep your head focused?" 

By this time, Vader had been about to leave, but once he heard what the woman said, he turned about and faced her. The woman froze and she realized who it was. 

" What did you say that boy's name was?" Vader asked.

Luke, seeing that the Caretaker was too scared to speak, answered himself, " I'm Luke 

Skywalker," he said with a grin. " At least I think it is."

" What does he mean by think?" Vader demanded.

" Well... he's an orphan," the Caretaker, she was trembling. " Both of his parents died right after he was born. He'd been sent to live an aunt and an uncle on Tatooine, but they died too and somehow, he ended up here on Imperial Centre."

Vader stared at the child, who returned his gaze with a smile. " Darth Vader told me that I could be a fighter pilot, Aeri, do you think I could?"

" Um... yes, you could," Aeri said absentmindedly, she stood up and took Luke's hand. " 

Come on, Luke. I'm sure, Lord Vader is busy now, so we'd best join the others."

" Okay," Luke said turned and faced Vader, " bye-bye, Mr. Vader," and with that, they walked off.

Vader watched the child before turning and stalking back towards his Castle.

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By that night, Vader scoured all the files that he could get to look up the name Luke Skywalker. All the information he could find was his date of birth, where he lived and which orphanage he was attending to. He also found some interesting information concerning the names of his parents

Mother: Padme Naberrie

Father: Anakin Skywalker.

Vader bit back the urge to give into his temper and crush the panel. It happened before and it took the techs a while before they could fix it. He did let himself hurl a chair to the other side of the room.

So his hunch had been proven correct. Luke Skywalker was his son, as far as the records go. He would soon find out on his own.

It took Vader about a week before he could visit the orphanage where Luke dwelled. What a sight it was for the receptionist to behold when Vader marched in through the door.

The datapad she'd been opening fell the floor. " Um... can I help you?" she asked nervously, taking no notice to the fallen datapad. 

" The boy," Vader said and short to the point, " Luke Skywalker, where is he?"

" Possibly in the playroom," she said, though she wondered why Vader would trouble himself over a little orphan boy. As an after thought, she added: " I'll take you to him."

She got up from behind her desk and gestured for him to follow. She lead him through the orphanage, into a long hallway and past a few doors before they turned a corner into a room that was in a flurry of emotions which suddenly silenced. Two boys stood face to face, and already there were bruises and cuts on their face. The first was Luke, and the other was a tall boy named whom Vader didn't know. It was fairly obvious what they were up to. One would have thought that Luke had the disadvantage, but strangely enough, the latter was only mildly nicked, a bruise here and a cut there. 

What made the room quiet wasn't the presence of the two adult, but this crossed look on Luke's face. An icy scowl that was almost unnatural for a child to be wearing. But even such a scowl didn't make his opponent flinch.

Without warning, Luke leapt forward and speared his opponent in the stomach. Already worn out as he was, the second boy was knocked down with no problem. He begged for mercy at that point, saying that he gave up, but Luke's temper was still in full swing. He began pummelling the boy's face over and over again.

" Great," the receptionist muttered beside Vader, she rushed up to Luke and literally had to rip him off. 

" You're gonna be sorry!" Luke said angrily, shouting as they dragged him away from the other boy. " I am going to hunt you down if I have to!" 

Vader watched with unease, the boy's anger was a live thing. He smiled, that should be good.

Vader was not allowed to see Luke until the Caretakers spoke with the boy and gave him a proper scolding and punishment. After the disciplinary actions were done with, Vader was allowed admittance. He stepped into Luke's room and found the boy bent over his desk, his chin resting on the surface. His fists still clenched, Vader could sense the anger simmering inside of him.

" Luke," he said.

The boy jumped and he whirled around. His eyes widened and with a jump, Luke sprang up onto his feet. " Darth Vader," he said, his anger forgotten, he loosened his hands.

" You are a very energetic boy," Vader said, his tone was filled with amusement, " what provoked you to get involved in a fight?"

Luke blushed, his anger forgotten. " You saw me?" he asked, he stared at the ground. Shame was now filling the void where his anger had been.

" Part of the fight," Vader replied. " What was your reason?"

" That boy-Willis, he's a jerk," Luke snapped. " He told me that my mother was nothing more than a prostitute and she abandoned me because she didn't want me. He also said that my father was a bastard who had nothing better to do than to lay prostitutes."

Vader's anger boiled over the words said about Padme.

" You did right to defend your parents' honour," Vader commended the boy, " especially for your mother."

Luke glanced up at Vader curiously, " you knew mother?"

Vader stared at the boy, did he just slip up? " what makes you think that?"

" Just the way you said 'mother'," Luke said, he shrugged, " a feeling maybe."

Vader decided not to answer the question, instead, he glanced around the room for the first time and noticed the pictures and cutouts on the walls. " I see you are a fan of many things besides fighter pilots." He noted the pictures of the many Jedi and the pictures of him.

" I find that kind of stuff interesting," Luke said, he stared at the ground, " my room mate told me stories. He said that you were the one who killed off all the Jedi. You have to be pretty strong to do that."

So that was why Vader sensed admiration. The boy believed that he was strong, no wonder.

" Perhaps not all," Vader said, he stared at a picture of an X-wing, " there are still some that are out there."

Luke plopped back down onto his chair, " why are you here?"

Vader stared back at the child, who looked so much like him-what he used to be. There was something else about him too, his eyes, they reflected his mother's wisdom and compassion. 

" I came back to see you," Vader answered. He wondered if this boy even had any Force powers. He believed so, he could sense strong potential from him.

Luke brightened, " Really?"

" Yes," Vader said, he wondered how he should tell the boy. " After I first met you, I had a... premonition. I looked up on you and realized that I was right."

" About what?"

" That I'm your father," Vader answered once again, he was to the point.

Luke's eyes widened like two saucer plates. " Father?" he repeated, unbelieving. " But... I thought that my father was dead."

" Who ever told you that lied," Vader said curtly. 

Luke had a question forming inside of his mind, though he didn't want to ask it. Luckily for him, Vader was a mind reader.

" Yes," Vader said.

Luke gave Vader a blank look. " Yes what?"

" Yes to your question," Vader answered. " I'm going to take you with me."

And suddenly Luke could feel his spirits soar. Though he didn't let his emotions show up on his face, suddenly he remembered something. " But how are you going to do that? Somebody's already adopted me."

Vader stared at the boy, " whom?"

Luke shrugged, " I don't know, some family from Corellia."

Vader growled, " well, Luke. You are my biological son, so that gives me all the rights I need. You are going to come with me." He held his hand out, Luke stared up at his father hesitantly and making up his mind, he took it. Luke allowed Vader to lead him out of the orphanage, though he felt a bit of remorse simmering up inside of him. But that was behind him now, he was going to be with his father! His real father!

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Storm Troopers marched all over the place and paid no heed to Vader or to the small child, Luke. Luke had been shown into the Castle and into his room, which was adjacent to Vader's own meditation chamber. He glanced around in awe, it was not as grand or as impressive as the Imperial Palace, but it was certainly large and interesting! 

His bed chambers were not as big as the other rooms. There was a small cot, a bookshelf, a desk and a small closet. That was about it, even his dinky little room back at the orphanage was better looking then this place. Luke's face scrunched up in disappointment and distaste.

" This will be your room," Vader said, he gestured around him. Noticing Luke's disdain, he added, " it's a temporary one until its been decided where I should move you. Don't go any where outside of my chamber. The lavatory is the door to the right of your room and if you get restless than go to the door left of your room."

" I saw another door in your room, what's it for? " Luke asked.

" You're very observant," Vader said, he smiled under his mask, " it's the sparring room. But you won't be going into that room until later."

With that, Vader turned and left Luke alone in his room. He sat on his bed, staring around, not sure what to do. At first, he toyed with that thought of going outside, since Vader had given him permission, but he felt like it wasn't a right thing to do. So he just laid back and began imagining himself as a star-fighter pilot, flying through space and saving the galaxy.

He must have drifted asleep, because the next thing Luke knew was Vader shaking him. 

Luke sat up with a start, he glanced around confused for a moment before he saw Vader. Then he remembered everything.

" What is it?" Luke asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eye. He yawned.

" We're going to begin your training," Vader answered. He gazed at the boy with a critical eye and decided to get one of his aides to buy some new clothes for him.

" Training?" Luke repeated, " for what?"

" You are strong in the Force, Luke," Vader said. " I've sensed it a million times before. And I want to get you ready before you are to see the Emperor. I've spoken with him and he's very interested in your talents."

Luke felt himself, shiver. The Emperor he knew, an old man, whose face was half decayed and had these piercing yellow eyes. He remembered on the trip to the Palace they had to see the Emperor right after. He gave a speech about how the youth of this generation was the future. Luke really didn't understand the speech, but somehow, he got the impression that what the Emperor was saying was nothing more then bull. He'd watched the Emperor, watching the folds around his mouth flap. Though when the eyes of the Emperor landed Luke, the old man had watched him, like he was reading him. 

" Um, okay," Luke said, only half understanding. He clambered out of bed and followed Vader into the sparring room. A large empty room with bare walls. Though it was brightly lit, the place seemed to have a gloomy feel to it.

Vader turned and faced Luke, for a moment, nothing happened. Those inquisitive eyes of Luke stirred something inside of Vader's heart. 

" In order for you to survive in the world you are about to enter," Vader said, pushing back his feelings, " then you must master the ways of the Force."

Luke heard Vader use that word before, though he wasn't sure what the meaning was. He was sure that his father would explain it to him all in due time.

" The Force, in a sense is an energy field, that is created by all living things, it is what gives a Jedi, a Sith or anyone else, their powers. And it's true that life would not exist without it," Vader said, he paused, trying to find words that would be easier to explain to his son. " There is basically two parts to the Force, the dark side and the light side."

" The dark side is the stronger side of the Force," Vader went on, he smiled under his mask, " the people who wields the power of the dark side are called Sith. I myself am a Dark Lord of the Sith, one of the last of our kind and you, Luke..." He stared down at the boy, " will be the first of a new generation."

Luke nodded, he understood most of it, and he was sure that in due time, he would understand all of it. He had a feeling that this Force stuff wasn't going to be all too easy.

" The Jedi Knights are the ones that use the light side of the Force," Vader added with contempt in his voice. " They are the ones that are weak. That is why they were destroyed so easily."

" So, being a Jedi is bad?" Luke asked.

Vader nodded, " yes, the Jedi are weaklings. The Emperor wishes to see you very soon, Luke, for you are a boy with emense talent and power. But you'll need to be trained. You are to listen to the Emperor and obey his every command. And don't be foolish, the Emperor doesn't have time for foolish people."

Luke said nothing, he sat on the ground, deep in thought. Wondering what this new road would lead too.

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When Luke turned about four, he was developing very well in the Force. The bond between him and his father was becoming stronger everyday and this innocence that Luke seem to possess made everyone like him. He was never allowed to visit some parts of the Castle, though his room had been moved away from Vader's chamber and into another part of the Castle.

Most of the day, Vader was away doing some kind of errand and Luke would be left alone in his room with guards standing in front of the door with orders to protect this child no matter what. The only person Luke got to see was one of Vader's aides, a strange one who had three children of his own and knew exactly how to deal with Luke. The aide was the one who decorated Luke's room and by the end, he was rewarded greatly with money and with compliments from Luke himself. The room was big and had two desks, a window that was protected by a energy field on the other side. The room was painted a light blue and the floor was matted with this soft carpet. The bed itself was soft and comfy, and posters of space battles hung on the wall. 

The only time Luke was allowed to see his father was at night when security was at its best and when he was free to wander around certain areas of the place. Luke got his exercise from his training from both Vader and the Emperor. Both of which trained him in different areas. To the Emperor, he saw a tool that could be shaped to be the greatest weapon that the Empire could ever have. To Vader, he was a legacy and a protege and his son. The bond that had mysteriously formed between the two could not be cut even by the Emperor himself. 

At night, Luke would always wander into Vader's meditation pod and climb into his father's lap, where he would just sit there and watch his father work. It was interesting what his father did, and sometimes he would get an extra special treat by watching his father duel with a droid. Luke himself wanted a lightsabre when he grew up and begged his father to teach him how to use one soon. 

But there was something that marred this boy's happy little life was those strange assassination attempts. There had not been many, but the first one was the one that he would always remember.

He had been sound asleep in bed and was awakened with this strange feeling. His father would have called it a warning from the Force, and Luke believed it. Luke wasn't stupid that he would just sit up, he turned, pretending that he was still asleep, and slowly with one eye, he peeked into the darkness. He saw nothing, but then again, it was so dark that he could see nothing.

Then something grabbed him and had a hand over his mouth so that he would not scream. Though Luke tried, no one heard it, his heart filled with fear and suddenly without warning, he focused his force powers onto a toy that had been sitting on a table, he hurled it at whoever it was. He heard someone swear as the toy hit the assassin on the head. This was Luke's chance, the assassin's grip on him came loose, and so Luke jumped out of bed and ran out of his bed room as fast as his chubby little legs would let him. He saw the Storm Troopers lying either dead or unconscious on the ground.

Tears began to stream down his face as he panted, he ran towards the only place where he knew he would be safe. 

The man was right behind him now and catching up quickly. 

Luke turned a corner and saw a bright red beam in the darkness of the hallway. He felt himself gasp with relief and delight as he ran towards the dark shadow that held that beam of light. 

" Daddy!" he exclaimed in a cry and he hugged his father's leg. 

Vader startled by his son's sudden cry, allowed the boy to continue on hugging his leg as he held the assassin by the throat in an invisible lock and levitated the assassin over to him. 

" Who brought you here!?" he demanded in anger. 

But to his dismay, the assassin had released suicide teeth and was already dead. Vader dropped the body onto the ground and once again became aware of the timid little body that hugged his leg. He switched his weapon off and clipped it back onto his. 

He hesitated, what was he to do? He didn't know how to deal with frightened little 

children and he could cast this child away especially since this boy was his own son. Then memories of the past drifted back into his mind. Memories of his mother, who used to hold him close to him whenever he'd been afraid.

Vader bent and scooped the boy up in his arms and held him close to him. The boy clasped his arms around his father's neck and began to cry. 

" The danger's over now," Vader said, trying to take on a gentle tone, but failing. " You were a very brave boy and it was very smart what you did."

Luke's crying eventually lessened and stopped. Vader carried the boy into his old room and tucked the boy into bed. He stood there and watched Luke fall asleep that boy brought back so many memories, he would protect Luke.

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Luke laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, he really didn't know how long he'd spent his days in this place. It could have been months, years. Actually, as far as he knew, it'd been two years. During those two years, he'd spent his time in here, sometimes travelling with his father, watching him go on these special missions that he didn't understand. Yet in this place, his room, the days just seem to merge together like one big blob of time. Not only that but it was so boring here! Vader disapproved of noisy children and Luke was far from noisy. He couldn't sit around for less then a minute without becoming impatient. And why did it have to be so quiet in his room? Why did his father always have to be away and why did he have to be in here all the time?

" I want to get out of here," Luke said out loud, breaking the silence. He began bouncing up and down on his bed, his muscles ached to be moving and at least this helped. Though bouncing on the bed soon lost its flare. Finally he climbed out of bed and went up to his desk, picking up an X-Wing model in one hand and a TIE fighter model in the other. These were supposed to be very fragile and according Vader's aide, very expensive. With both of the models in hand, he began making engine noises and chased the X-Wing with the TIE Fighter. 

This kept him entertained for probably an hour before Luke decided to see what would happen if he threw the models against the wall. He tossed the X-Wing into his wall and giggled as it smashed into pieces. " This is fun," he said to himself and threw the TIE fighter into the wall. Finally, Luke became bored, what if he could go outside for just a minute? There wasn't anything wrong with that, was there? Sure, his father had restricted him to his bed chambers but how would Vader ever find out?

Luke crept up to the door and pressed the panel, seconds later the door slid aside for him. He peeked into the hallway, it was still day light and the Storm Troopers were patrolling around the castle. They weren't posted at his doors like they usually were at night, Most assassination attempts took place at night. Though there were Storm Troopers down the hallway. Taking in a deep breath, Luke quickly ran down the hallway and stopped at the bend, he peeked over the side and saw three Storm Troopers coming.

He took in a deep breath, only six years old, he knew a bit about the Force, the Emperor had already began his training. He focused his thoughts onto those Storm Troopers. What was that trick the Emperor taught him? Mind alter right, he remembered now, thought that little trick really did take a lot out of him. He closed his eyes and concentrated, abruptly, the three Storm Troopers turned about face and began strolling back down the other side of the hallway, disappearing around another turn. 

Luke sighed with relief and quickly ran down towards another hallway. Waiting for him there was a secret hatchway which lead to passages that Vader designed for his own Castle. These passages very much like the secret passage ways in the Imperial Palace. Though these passages were big enough to fight a Dark Lord, so they were certainly big enough to fit a young child. This would be his ticket to the outside world.

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It didn't take Luke very long to find his way out of the Castle, he clambered out of the vent that lead to the grounds. He quickly ducked behind a large nearby speeder. Of course, Vader wasn't lax when it came to security. Guards were almost around every corner. Obviously, they would notice a little kid running around, at only age four, he didn't know what to do. 

One of the Guards began moving, Luke watched him from his hiding spot as the rest of the Guards went. He frowned, what were the Guards doing? They were leaving this area unprotected. He began counting the seconds that they were gone, half a minute later, more Guards came, they were different ones, Luke could only tell from the varying sizes that these guards spanned. He sat there and watched them before these Guards moved on too, going down the same direction that the other Guards went. That was when Luke figured it out. These were patrolling Guards, soon, more would come and take their post. This happened every fifteen minutes. Though to him, fifteen minutes was too long, but he forced himself to stay put. The exit was not too far away, he could run for it and run out of the gates. 

For a moment, he spaced out, letting his mind run away, he snapped back into attention when he noticed the guards began moving. As soon as their backs were turned to him, Luke sprang up and soundlessly dashed for the open gates. He continued on running once he was past the gates and stopped three blocks away and collapsed onto the ground, tired and breathless. He sat there a while longer as pedestrians passed, only giving him a momentary glance of bewilderment before going about their business. Luke sat up and glanced back over towards the Castle. It was looming over him, casting a shadow that spanned for blocks.

" It's so big," Luke said out loud. 

A nearby pedestrian heard him and grinned, " Vader's Castle is nothing compared to the Imperial Palace."

Luke glanced back over to the pedestrian and grinned, " I know," he said, " I've been there."

" So where are your parents little one?" the pedestrian asked.

" Oh at work," Luke replied, " my father works in there." He pointed towards the Castle. 

The pedestrian whistled, " I feel sorry for your father then." With that he walked on.

Luke stared after him and frowned, what did that strange man mean by that? Shrugging, he turned and ran off. After being cooped up for so long it felt great to run. 

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After three hours of exploring the Galactic City, Luke became bored and hungry and possibly afraid? No, it was too premature for that, Luke was still excited about being outside, but this excitement was quickly fading. A child's attention could only be held for a short while before it begins to wander to something new. His legs were tired and sore, he was really sleepy and wanted to go back home. The problem was that he didn't know where he was and none of the passing pedestrians bothered to help him, they didn't even look at him. 

After wandering around for about half an hour, Luke became disgruntled and about ready to sit down and cry. Though didn't his father tell him that crying was for babies and he wasn't a baby anymore? He bit down on his lip and continued walking, well if his father didn't like crying, then he wouldn't cry. He frowned and stopped as he realized he'd turned onto a quiet street. Well... it wasn't really quiet. In Imperial Centre terms, a quiet street was a street where there was little activity and this street. It was practically empty, a very rare sight indeed. 

There was noise, no doubt about that, Luke quickly recognized the noises as the screaming laughter of other children. His face brightened up, other children nearby? Luke didn't realize how lonely he'd been until now. His father was a great man, but his father just didn't understand and besides, he was a _grown-up_. Children were different, maybe he could make new friends.

Luke ran towards the direction of the laughter and finally saw the source, a small pre-school with children playing on the grounds. There was a jungle gym, a playground and-Wow, it even had artificial grass and trees. Seeing anything that was green on this machine planet was even rarer then empty streets. Luke frowned, he wondered on which section of Coruscant he was. 

" Hey!" a voice greeted from the playground. 

Luke's head came up and he saw a girl sitting on top of the jungle gym. She grinned and waved at him. She looked just about his age, with red-gold hair that were tied up into thick braids. Luke grinned and waved back. 

" Come on! Let's play," she shouted at him.

That was all the invitation he needed. Luke rushed onto the playground and climbed on top of the jungle gym, joining the girl at the top. 

" Hi, I'm Luke," he said.

" Hi Luke," the girls said, grinning at him, " where are you from?"

" Um... I don't really know," Luke replied, " you see I'm lost."

" Lost?" the girl frowned, " that's too bad. Do remember where your house is?"

" Oh um... I think its the Castle," Luke replied, he heard people calling it that before so he assumed that was the name. He frowned and stared at the girl, she seemed familiar somehow, had he met her before somewhere? He recalled a certain mission his father had go on a couple of months back.

" Oh okay, the Castle's over there," the girl replied, pointing in front of her. 

" Thanks," Luke replied, grinning, " where are you from?"

" Oh from the Imperial Palace," she replied. " Come on, let's play." 

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The children and Luke played for about a couple of hours before pre-school let out and the parents came and picked up the children. Luke sat on top of the jungle gym, watching them wistfully. He wished that his father would come here and get him. He looked ahead of him, that was where the Castle was. Maybe he could make it home before his father did. A string of warbles and beeps caught his attention, he glanced down from the jungle gym and saw a small droid with a silver and blue dome rolling across the grounds, carting behind it was a small wagon, he was picking up the garbage. 

" Wow!" Luke exclaimed, quickly climbing down the jungle gym, " an Artoo unit!"

He knew enough about X-Wings that an Artoo unit was a pilot's aide. He'd always wanted one for himself, but why would this droid be here of all places? And why would the droid be picking up garbage? He jumped in front of the droid. The Artoo unit expressed his displeasure of being surprised by screaming out. Luke jerked back and then laughed at how silly that scream was. 

" Hiya," Luke greeted, " I'm Luke. Who are you?"

The droid warbled and beeped. 

" R2-D2?" Luke asked, glancing down at its call number. " How about I just call you Artoo?"

Artoo be-dooped and blatted at the boy, Luke frowned, " can't you talk?" he asked. " You know, like a protocol droid or something?"

The droid imitated a shake of the head by rolling its head back and forth. " Well at least you understand me," Luke said disappointed. He sat back down on the artificial grass and watched the droid move about, picking up garbage. This was getting to be way to boring for him. He stood up and patted the droid on the head, " why don't you come with me?" Luke asked, " we can be friends."

The droid warbled, Luke understood the emotion behind the electronic beeps. It was a definite beep. " Great!" he exclaimed. " Come on, let's go." He went behind the droid and unhooked the wagon and then went in front of him and saw the restraining bolt, he pursed his lips. A rock nearby caught his attention, quickly, he grabbed it and held it high over his head. The droid rocked back and forth nervously. 

" Don't worry," Luke reassured the droid, " I know what I'm doing." He brought the rock down, missed the restraining bolt and smashed it onto his toe. Luke yelped and dropped the rock. He pouted and glanced down at his foot. " That hurt," he said to the droid, looking for sympathy but finding none. Instead, he found a fairly amused Artoo unit rocking back as if it were laughing. Luke's anger quickly flared. He grabbed the rock and bonked the droid on its stone head. Artoo quickly let out a screech and screamed at the boy in its own droid language.

Luke laughed and picked the rock up again, this time, he didn't miss the restraining bolt. With a couple of more whacks and the help of the Force, Luke was able to get the bolt off. " Come on," he said, getting up, he limped across the playground, " let's go."

The droid warbled and quickly rolled behind Luke. That was when an Imperial landspeeder rolled to a stop on the street that Luke was standing on. The door slid open and Darth Vader stepped out. Luke's eyes widened, " uh-oh.." 

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After being caught by Vader, Luke was forced to sit in his room for two hours. He didn't argue, knowing that he was in enough trouble. He glanced up once the doors slid open and in walked two Storm Troopers. Of course, since his escape, Vader doubled security and punished the ones who'd been on guard. 

" Lord Vader wishes to see you," said the Storm Trooper, waving him forward with a blaster. Luke frowned and hopped off his bed, he gestured for Artoo to follow. 

" You know, blasters are dangerous," Luke said to the Storm Trooper, " so how come you get to use one?"

Even Storm Troopers weren't oblivious to Luke's charm, he laughed, " because it's my job."

" Oh, ok," Luke said, dissatisfied, why did everyone always have to treat him like a little kid? Just because he was six didn't mean he didn't understand. 

" Come on, kid, we don't have all day here," the Storm Trooper said, finally getting impatient. " Vader doesn't like it when people make him wait."

" Why not?"

The Trooper was silent, he knew why, but it was best for a child not to know. " He's not happy when he's waiting."

" Oh, I understand now," Luke said, he smiled and followed the Storm Troopers down the hallway leading to Vader's private sanctum.

" He wants to see you in private," the Storm Trooper said, gesturing towards the double doors. " So go on ahead."

Luke nodded and stepped forward, the doors slid open for him, without hesitation he entered, followed by Artoo. The meditation pod was open and from inside, Luke could see his father sitting on a chair with his back turned to him. Luke quickly approached the Dark Lord but stopped as soon as he was two feet away from Vader. From here, he could see his father clearly. His eyes widened with horror as the helmet came down, covering Vader's head. Luke took a step back and swallowed hard, Artoo rolled up beside Luke and comforted the young boy with his presence. 

That was when Vader's chair turned. His face was masked again. Luke frowned as he realized he never saw his father without that mask. Couldn't his father take it off once in a while? 

" Why are you always wearing a mask?" Luke asked without hesitation.

Had it been anyone else but Luke, then that other person would have been dead on the spot. On the other hand, this was Luke, Vader's son, so he couldn't kill the boy, nor did he want to. Even so, Vader's anger flared.

" It's none of your business," Vader snapped.

Luke took a step back, obviously, he had said something wrong because he never saw his father this angry at him. Though he couldn't understand why, when Vader had picked him up from the pre-school after he ran away, he seemed more amused then angry. Now all of a sudden, his father as very mad. 

" I'm... s-sorry," Luke managed to say through his fear. 

Vader caught the fear in Luke's emotions and in his voice. He quickly forced himself to calm down. Luke was young and he didn't understand certain matters. Perhaps someday he would tell the boy what happened. Not now, he was still too angry at Obi-Wan for what he'd done to him, turning him into this monster and taking his wife and child away from him.

" I'm going to get you a tutor," Vader said, deciding that a change in subject would be best. " You obviously have too much free time on your hands and most children your age usually have some sort of education."

" But I already went to school," Luke protested, " and I don't like it."

" School? I don't recall ever bringing you to school," Vader said, he hid his amusement. It was a nice trick Luke was pulling on him.

" It's true!" Luke exclaimed, " when I went to the orphanage I had to go to school since I was two because they were short staffed. So I went to school so that way they could get me out of the way."

Vader nodded, good to know his son wasn't lying to him, " if that's true, then you only went to school for less then two years. You're still going to have a tutor. That's final."

Luke stuck out his lower lip, " then why can't I go to a normal school?"

" Normal school?"

" Yeah, that way I can make some friends," Luke said, he thought about that girl with the red braids. 

Vader made a dismissive gesture, " too dangerous," he replied, " no argument, Luke, you're going to get a tutor."

Luke sighed, it was hopeless. He decided to give up. No use in arguing with his father. He didn't want to get Vader angry again. It was scary, he hopped over towards his father and sat beside Vader in the meditation pod, hugging Vader's leg. 

" Alright," he replied, " I'll get a tutor. Just don't be angry at me again, daddy."

Under his mask, Vader smiled, he picked Luke up from the floor and placed him on his lap. " I'm not angry," he replied. " And if you be a good boy and stay inside the castle. I won't be mad."

Luke nodded and buried his face into Vader's chest, not really caring that the Dark Lord's equipment was poking at him. He felt safe in Vader's arm, he closed his eyes. 

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The Imperial Palace's playroom, was basically a day-care centre where the delegates of the Empire could drop their children off and forget about them for an hour or two. Luke entered holding onto the hand of Vader's personal aide, Stave. His other hand was rested on the dome of Artoo-Detoo, whom he would have to give up soon, much to Luke's protests. Vader allowed him to keep the droid for one more day before it would be returned to the pre-school. After all, Vader had pointed out, the droid was stolen. 

He pressed close to Stave as he spied a room full of children he didn't know. Luke had a knack for making friends but this was different, all of these children were either princes or princesses. What was Luke? Really a nobody whose father was a Sith Lord. 

Luke raised his chin, his father was a Sith Lord, he remembered and someday he was going to be a Sith Lord. He would be more powerful then these people. Confident with his new pledge, Luke stepped forward, letting go of Stave's hand.

" I'll be back to pick you up in a couple of minutes," Stave said giving him one last glance before turning to leave. Luke barely acknowledged Stave as his eyes landed on a girl sitting on a mat. He was struck in awe at how familiar she looked, who did she remind him of? His mother maybe, but he never knew his mother, he couldn't remember anything of her. Yet when he looked at this girl, he was reminded of her. The girl was no older then he was, she was dressed in a white frilly dress and wore her hair down in long curls falling about her shoulders. She took no notice of Luke for she was playing with a couple of building blocks.

" Hi!" Luke said approaching her and taking a seat on the floor.

The girl glanced up at Luke and grinned, he noticed that her two front teeth were missing and she had dimples on her cheeks. " Hi," she replied. " I'm Leia, who are you?"

" I'm Luke," he replied, " I'm only going to be staying here for a while."

Leia frowned, " that's too bad. Do you want to play?"

Luke grinned, " sure, what are you doing?" He glanced down at the pile of blocks that were scattered about Leia. 

" Making a castle," Leia answered, she raised her chin up in regal arrogance, " I live in a castle you know."

" Me too!" Luke exclaimed, " are you a princess?"

" Yes!" Leia said, she giggled, " I'm the princess of Alderaan. My father is here on dipo... um... dipomadic business. Are you a prince?"

Luke shook his head, " no, I'm... actually I don't really know what I am. Though my father's a strong man." He quipped. 

Leia gave Luke a bemused expression, " my father told me that being strong is nothing if you're not brave."

Being brave? Luke's father was brave! Why Luke believed that Darth Vader was the bravest and strongest man in the world. What did this Leia's father know anyway? Just because he was some sort of king or something. 

" I'm only going to be staying on Imperial Center for a couple of more days before my father takes me to some planet called Tatooine," Leia said as she piled blocks together, making a rather crooked tower. " He told me that I'll be staying there for most of the time and someone is going to teach me how to do things. My father doesn't make sense but he told me that I'm going to be something very special when I grow up. Not just a princess too."

Luke frowned, why did she get to be special? After picking a block up and making a tower of his own, he decided to knock it down, it clattered to the ground, making a loud noise. Luke laughed, he had a tendency in breaking things on purpose especially around people, he liked to see people jump in surprise or fear. He glanced over at Leia, she certainly jumped, though she was more startled then afraid. Artoo blatted at Luke for being so childish.

" Ooh! An Artoo unit!" Leia exclaimed, she ran up to the droid and began stroking his dome head, " you're so lucky. I want one too, but my father says not until I'm older. When I grow up, I'm going to get an Artoo unit and a Protocol droid."

Luke pursed his lips, his father for some reason, didn't like to buy droids. So Luke spent most of his days building them and then having his father discover or Stave discover the finished creations and taking them away. Luke didn't know where they went, maybe to the smelter or maybe sold off. Though his father struck Luke as the kind of man with lots of credits, even if he barely used the money. 

" Luke!"

The boy turned to see Stave standing at the doorway, Luke quickly got up to his feet and smiled at Leia, " gotta go! Bye!"

Leia grinned back, " bye!" she sat back down and went back to building her castle. Luke and Artoo went to Stave.

" Your father's going to be home in a couple of minutes, so we'd better hurry." Stave said, taking Luke's hand. The boy grimaced holding Stave's hand was like holding a Rodian Prickle Bush, his hand was always so rough and you could feel the bones. It wasn't like holding Vader's hand, it was gloved, yet it had a strong, yet gentle grip. Luke stared down at his hands, he wished he could have a grip like his father's someday.

End Part One.

Part Two: Road to Maturity

In the many years that had passed, Vader found it difficult to raise a boy on his own. He tried his best to teach Luke as much as he could and at times would bring Luke with him on the many trips he went on. Then came trouble when Rebels had been stirring up again. With the activities of the Rebels becoming more frequent, it'd been decided that Luke should learn as much as he could as fast as he could. Vader and the Emperor were the ones that had taught Luke about the Force. With two masters teaching him, Luke had no trouble learning the ways of the Force. Vader himself mainly focused on training Luke how to fly.

Luke had also been trained in the art of sabotage, espionage and how to use any type of weapon. Though Luke was great with a blaster, he excelled with the lightsabre. And over the course of years, Luke become an agent of the Empire. By the age of fourteen, he had completed all of his necessary training and had been made one of the Emperor's Hand. 

And nobody knew of his existence save for his own father, the Emperor and the Black Sun's Prince: Xizor. Vader for a long time had suspected that Xizor was the one behind all of those assassination attempts. With no proof to back him up, Vader could not make any accusations.

Though Luke had a rather eccentric life, he made appearances on the Emperor's Court. Luke lead a rather double life, one as Luke Skywalker: agent of the Empire and another as Luke Skywalker: teenage boy. As the teenage boy, Luke would attend high school and go to parties at Palace. As the agent, he would receive training and go on special missions. 

Luke himself liked neither worlds and would have liked to lead a normal life. Of course, his normal life was supposed to be that teenage life. Vader did not approve of letting Luke go to high school since the boy could get taught at home with the best tutors, like before. But since turned fifteen, he had enrolled in ICPA: Imperial Centre Private Academy. A school for special teenagers whose parents were important. 

The Emperor insisted on it, but the bad thing was that Luke was never at school seventy-five percent of the time. Vader never trusted Luke to be alone and would always drag him off along with him whenever Vader had to leave the planet. Like that time when Vader had to go to Ithor, Luke had to go along. To make up for his education, Luke would spend about two months at a school in Ithor before returning back to Imperial Centre.

This didn't just bother Luke, but also bothered Luke's teachers and friends. But since Luke had friends in high places, no inquiries were made about his whereabouts or why. 

And in the two years he had been ICPA, he made only two friends, a girl named Alléen and a boy named Kiro. Both of them were understanding and supportive, even if Luke always lied to then ninety-five percent of the time. The only friend that he'd ever know in his entire life time was that girl with the red braids whom he never saw again.

It was about the middle of the year before Luke returned to ICPA. Dressed in his uniform, Luke rode the airlimo all the way to his school. He would have liked it a whole lot better if personal tutors taught him instead. A great change in opinion from when he'd been six.

Luke arrived in class about fifteen minutes late, and just for good measure, the very class had to be Socials. His teacher was an old bag who didn't understand a thing and went out of his way to make Luke's life miserable.

" Luke Skywalker," the woman said in a high pitched voice as he stepped into the classroom, hoping not be noticed. Such hopes flushed quickly down the drain. Luke stood erect and faced the teacher. He had a rather deep flush in his face. 

" I know, I'm late, Ms. Sheod," Luke said, trying not to look sheepish, he put a diplomatic tone in his voice. The Emperor was trying to teach him how to be a politician. Which was working well for Luke, but he didn't even have a ghost of a chance of ever becoming a senator. " But I can explain, my airlimo was low on power so the trip was twice as long going to school."

" I don't tolerate tardiness, as much as I tolerate absentees," she added as an afterthought, " you haven't been in my class for over two months."

Luke nodded, the red on his face growing deeper, " I'm well aware of that, but I've made up for it yesterday on the tests. I've passed all of them."

" Its a wonder you're still going to this school at all," the teacher said, she pointed at his desk, " now take your seat."

Luke obeyed and sat down, Alléen sat in front of him and turned, giving him a shrug of her shoulders. She mouthed a very descriptive word about the teacher that was not very complimentary. Luke smirked and gave her a nod before he began searching through the data pad for section. 

After first period, Luke and Alléen began strolling together toward their lockers. Alléen seemed pretty happy to have him back. Though Luke couldn't understand why Alléen and Kiro still stayed as his friend. Possibly because they didn't know him very well and that was what made it a good friendship, or maybe it was because Luke seemed so helpless about the real world. He didn't seem to have a clue about what to do when a real problem came to hand. 

Luke also seemed to be the object of the his grade's aggression. He would be picked on day in and day out. Luke could tolerate it with a high chin. Probably the reason why people hated him even more. Luke was always so stubborn and stuck up, he never showed respect to anyone unless he feels the person earned it or unless someone inspires him. Alléen was the latter, she inspired him, while Kiro had to earn it by beating him in a racing holo. The only other person in the whole school he respected was Ms. Tanal, a woman who inspired him to be his best. She was the Basic teacher.

" So, where did you go this time?" Alléen asked, interrupting his thoughts. Luke gave her a sidelong glace, she was beautiful in her own way, not like those skinny mondels who over did themselves. She had her own simple elegance, her lips were a fine red while her frizzy blonde hair was tied up in a long braid which was propped over one shoulder. 

" Ithor," Luke said with a smile, " its a nice place over there." He could imagine seeing Alléen on the lush garden world. He remembered seeing her dressed in this pale blue dress before. She'd fit perfectly there, it wasn't wrong for Luke to think about her that way, they both knew that she'd been an interest of his for years, but neither of them made a move. Luke's life made it hard for him to love anyone. 

" I bet it is," Alléen said with a nod, she decided not to question him any further. Luke had a tendency with losing his temper. " Socials was boring today, if it'd lasted a minute longer, then I swear, I would have gone insane."

" Tell me about it," Luke said with a snort. He glanced over at her and smiled, " and it was true about the airlimo thing." He didn't want to sound shallow, but his reputation was already well worn and well frayed. No one here respected him.

" Uh-huh," Alléen said. She smiled, Luke didn't know a lot about friends and friendship and she decided to try and teach him all the great things that could come from friendship.

The next class Luke had would be physical education. He hated that class even more, it was not that he wasn't actively fit, but it was that the class wasn't challenging enough. Luke only rose to his best if he was challenged or provoked, which was none of these cases in P.E. 

The teacher made them do about three laps around the gym, which wasn't even hard because Vader made Luke do five laps around the whole perimeter of the Imperial Palace. Then they played a game of dodge-ball. Luke didn't play at his best for two reasons, one: because it would look better if no one knew he was that good and two: because the Emperor ordered it.

After that, it was lunch and then he had to tolerate two more boring classes before school was over. Which was a relief for him. Kiro tried asking Luke to go to the Speeder, a popular hang out with the kids. Of course, the youthful boy flat-out refused and gave them some poor excuse before he went off.

Vader was not home as usual, he was probably off on some sort of business trip on the Emperor's Skyhook or something. Luke took to the sparring room with his own lightsabre and began to duel away with one of Vader's droids. By the time he finished with three of Vader's droids, he decided to give it a rest and do his homework. 

When he completed his physics homework he got a call from the Emperor. Inwardly, Luke groaned, because he knew that the Emperor was going to make him do some sort of stupid mission which he would really hate.

He checked the message that was left, they were scant instructions: kill a certain Senator and Senator's daughter. Luke didn't question orders, he just went through with them and then went on with his life. He sighed and gathered his gear. 

The first part was easier then the second, Luke had to sneak into the Senator's home without being detected. He chose to do this mission at night when he couldn't be spotted as easily in the day. As usual, he was dressed in all black, including the gloves. He also covered his hair and face with a helmet so that way if someone spotted him, they wouldn't know who he was. 

The Senator's home was on a private estate, it was only three stories up, but it had a couple of wings to it. Sneaking into the perimeter was easy, Luke stood at the base of the Senator building and glanced up, above him was a window. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the Force to lift him up, it was always a strange sensation to levitate oneself. He glanced down at the ground and saw it dropping below him. He quickly stopped himself when he saw that he was parallel to the window. According to his sources, the Senator slept in the far room in the east wing. He was only one room away and his sources told him that this room wasn't currently in use. 

Luke slipped in through the window and strolled into the hallway. There were patrolling guards, but he'd timed it so that way he could get the Senator between the guard's shift. Luke couldn't help but grin in the darkness, he was reminded of the time when he was a child and had snuck out of the Castle. 

There was only one problem in this mission and that was trying to get into the Senator's room since it had this panel lock on the door. Luke pressed his hand against it, feeling with the Force, he could tell which numbers were being used most often. Now to figure out which order they were in, he allowed the Force to guide his fingers. Luke sighed with relief as the flashing red bar became green and he was allowed access into the room. 

He stalked in and shut the door soundlessly behind him. There sat the Senator, working at his desk. Luke had this thing in which he would always let the person now they were going to die before killing them. He didn't like to kill people when their backs were turned.

He tapped the man on the shoulder. The Senator whirled around and his face turned into pure fright. Luke caught the man in an invisible choke hold and levitated him up into the air. The Senator gasped and tried to claw off the imaginary hands that weren't there. Finally, he was dead, Luke felt a bit of remorse, he didn't like killing people, his father disapproved of it, saying that there was no honour in being an assassin. Of course, his father was a hypocrite, since he'd killed millions of people, but there was a purpose to what Vader did. Luke didn't even know _why_ he was killing this Senator. With disgust, he tossed the old man onto his bed. He had to make it appear like the man had died from a heart attack. Stretching out with the Force, he began to squeeze the man's heart. When the task was done, Luke opened one of the windows and jumped out, now to find the Senator's daughter.

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Mara Jade did not like assassination missions at all, but since the Emperor ordered it, she would do it. She would break into the Senator's home through the second story window closest to the Senator's room. Or at least she was about to when she saw that the Senator's window was open. She shrugged and threw the grappling hook up and began to climb. 

Mara jumped into the Senator's room and stared around her in dismay. The Senator laid on his bed with this rather grotesque look on his face. She frowned, he didn't look like he was dressed for bed. A scanning of the Force told her that he was dead, Mara would have normally just shrugged it off because this made her mission easier, but there was something else there that was bothering her a hunch as people called it. For one thing, she just knew that someone else had been here, but there was no proof, except perhaps that open window. She glanced over at the desk across the room, the lamp was on and it appeared that the Senator had been working and all of sudden stopped and died in bed. 

She was quite certain that there had been someone else there, but who? This other person was clever, he or she made it appear as if the Senator died from a heart attack. She'd best not stay here for too long, she needed to go find the Senator's daughter.

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_This is beneath me,_ Luke thought. He was dressed in that same black outfit, though this time he had discarded with the helmet. He was at a popular club called the Comical. A place where the main attraction were people wrestling in the middle of the place. Luke seated himself in the upper balcony table near the stairs. Here he could look down at the crowds and observe their actions. He already found the Senator's daughter, a pretty little thing with long dark hair. She didn't exactly look too innocent, dressed in skanky outfit. Luke waited three hours for her to leave but apparently, she wasn't going to go back home this early.

When it finally turned two in the morning, she began to leave. Luke had to do this carefully. The Senator dying in his bed was a believable thing, but in order to make this one seem real, he would have to make it look like the daughter had run away with a boy. He had to kill three people instead of the original two. He knew that the Senator's daughter was dating a boy. Luke took the liberty in killing and dumping his body into a meat grinder. He fed the remains to the feral beasts in the underground. Now he had to kill her too and take her to a meat grinder. 

Luke slipped out the same door that she went through unnoticed. He saw the Senator's daughter walking down the long alley way. Without hesitation, Luke took a vibroblade from a hidden pocket in his vest and followed her. 

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Mara Jade had been in the Comical, watching two people. The Senator's daughter and this other boy, who sat at the upper balcony table. He was watching the daughter too, but didn't notice her. When the daughter began to leave, the boy followed. By this time, she had assumed that he was some sort of stalker who was obsessed. She smirked, well, his obsession would have to end soon. 

As soon as the boy left the room, she had to weave her way through the crowd, she went out unnoticed. Though as soon as she entered the dark alley. She heard a female scream originating further down the alley.

" Please! Don't hurt me!" begged the voice. Mara flinched, those cries were always normal when she had to kill innocent people, her face immediately hardened. She had been taught by the Emperor to never let her emotions get in the way of her duty.

Mara ran towards the noise, taking her wrist blaster out in the process. She got there just in time to see the boy take a vibro blade out of the woman's chest. 

" Hey you!" she exclaimed, she took her blaster out and fired.

The boy turned and gave a curse. He then suddenly scooped the woman's body and slung her over his shoulder and ran off into the darkness.

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Luke had known for quite a while that someone had been watching him. Now he knew who it was, she had seen this girl a couple of times before. In the Emperor's court and sometimes around the Imperial Palace. With the Senator's daughter over one shoulder, he bolted off with amazing speed. She was lighter than he'd expected.

*Forget about the meat grinder,* Luke thought to himself, *just throw her into the underground.* He ran onto a deserted cat walk which stank of incredible stenches that wafted up from the underground. He didn't bother to hesitate, the woman would catch up soon enough. 

He glanced over the edge, it was a long way down and he wouldn't want to fall. Though with the Senator's body burdening him like this he would probably end up falling down there if he tripped. Gritting his teeth he dropped the dead woman's body onto the ground and rolled her off the edge. No one was around to see. He watched as the body fell and disappear into the bowels of Coruscant; the animals down there would eventually start chomping on her even before she hit bottom. 

A blaster bolt shot past him, barely missed him by an inch. Luke turned and saw that woman again. He reached for his own blaster and began firing, keeping the woman at bay as he began to back off. It would be bad for his image if someone saw him picking a fight with a woman. But there was nothing wrong about fighting in private. He lead her into another alley, it was dark and rather enclosed. There were only a couple of ways out and Luke chose to fight instead of fleeing. His father had always taught him to face his enemies and be a warrior then to be a coward and runaway.

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Mara followed him into the alley, there was a smirk on her face. Too bad this boy didn't know who she was. Though he may be a man, she would whoop his behind and have him down on the ground before he could even say a word. She was after all the Emperor's Hand. Though why he wanted to kill the Senator's daughter she didn't know. Of course, if you're a man of importance in the Empire, then you're bound to have a few enemies, which was probably the Senator's case. Either way, it made the job easier for her, she could also assume that this man was the person responsible for the Senator's death.

" You certainly are a cocky one," the boy said, holding his blaster at her. She noted he had a steady hand. There was a confident smirk on his face, " you follow a person into an alley and you don't even know who he is."

" I know enough," Mara said, " and I know for a fact that you're going to be in a world of pain fairly soon."

She advanced a step before stopping, getting ready for a fight, she slowly eased into a fighting position, fists raised at level with her cheek and eye. She crouched and tensed her muscles. 

" Well, if you think you're so good, then I'll even the odds a little," he dropped his blaster and allowed it to clatter onto the ground. An insult, Mara knew. She felt her temper rising.

" My, aren't we the conceited one," Mara mocked, she dropped her blaster as well, " but if you want it to be this way... then fine." She saw the boy become visibly irked at her action, obviously, he thought he had skill and never anticipated for her to actually take him up on his challenge. He was probably one of those types, where he was all show and no moves.

With that they leapt towards each other. 

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Mara was the one who got the first blow, a punch to the boy's cheek while they were in mid air. The boy's head reeled back and she could see his spittle flying through the air. He retaliated by grabbing her other wrist and flipping her onto the ground. She landed hard on her back and if she'd not caught herself in mid-fall, then she probably would have cracked her skull. Mara realized in an instant that this was no ordinary boy who could use a vibroblade. She quickly rolled away before the boy was able to bring his heel down to end it all. She flipped onto her feet and went into a fighting stance. This time, she regarded him with more care.

The boy charged in hopes of knocking her to the ground, Mara dodged and brought her fist down onto the small of his back. The boy fell flat onto the ground and that was when Mara realized something horrible. 

Every time she hit him, punched him or do something, his anger would rise another notch, and it seemed that his power seemed to derive from his anger. That was his motivation.

This strange boy got back onto his feet as if he hadn't been injured at all. His eyes full of anger and there was nothing else on his mind but the intent of subduing this girl. He reminded Mara of someone, but she just couldn't put her finger on whom. The boy grabbed a near by crate and hurled it at her. Mara dodged and realized that this boy was the stronger and the faster. There was no way she was going to win a fist fight with him granted that her element of surprise was usually how she usually won a fight if she was outmatched by both strength and speed. He was built to endure any kind of pain. She had met his kind before. If she wanted to survive this, she needed to end it quickly, with honours aside she took a cylinder shaped thing off her belt and went into a defensive stance. With a flick of a switch a rather long amethyst coloured blade extended from the cylinder. Her own lightsabre, this would usually scare many people off at first sight.

The boy's anger suddenly cooled down. She could feel it being replaced by pure delight. This puzzled her, did he actually think he could take someone who was an expert at such a craft as she was? 

That was when the boy himself took his own weapon out. He ignited the switch, a long green blade jumped out of the pommel. Mara suddenly realized what she was really up against.

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Luke didn't know why, but he could actually feel this strange giddiness rising up inside of him. Was she a Jedi? He hoped so, because he'd waited for a long time to face one and this was his chance. He ignited his own weapon, boy, had this girl picked the wrong guy to mess with. Especially in a lightsabre duel! He excelled at the craft and at times, Luke could even best his own father. 

Luke took a step forward and baited her, bringing his blade around, he needed to see how fast she really was. The red-head brought her blade around and blocked her blow with amazing speed which Luke caught easily. Their blades clashed, every time the energy blades made contact, they made a strange, high-pitched squealing sound that Luke had become accustomed too. 

_She's good,_ Luke commended, _but not good enough. _

He wasn't Vader's son for nothing, he drove forward, pushing the woman back, trying to ground her, she didn't take the bait. It was as if she'd fought against him before, Luke frowned, his style of fighting was much like his father's, since it was his father who'd taught him how to battle. Usually, he had two styles, one using brute strength and the other using speed. He usually fell back to his father's technique of using strength, if it didn't work, then Luke used speed. He knew quite well that she had her outmatched in both, yet she must have trained for years to have actually have the kind of speed and strength she had now. Luke went for speed, he bombarded her with a flurry of thrusts and swings that she barely had the chance to even go onto the offensive. Luke continued this combination of sword moves until he had her where he wanted her. He swung his blade up, blocking one of her blows, their blades locked, that was when Luke pushed her back, up against the wall and pointed the blade at her throat. He felt reluctant to kill her, he wanted to know more about her. This woman reminded him of the young girl on the jungle gym with the red braids.

That was when they heard sirens of the planet's law enforcement. Luke jumped back, switched his weapon off and ran into the darkness. Getting caught by the planet's police would not be very good for him. The Emperor would be furious at his failure and his father would have been angry too. He wouldn't risk it, perhaps someday, he would meet this girl again.

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Luke climbed into bed with weary eyes, he plopped down into bed, stuffing his face into his pillow, resting on his stomach. The tired youth had almost fallen asleep when heard the sound of very familiar breathing. 

" Is something the matter, father?" Luke asked, his voice was muffled by the pillow, Darth Vader was able to make out the words. His son had a habit of doing that, speaking through the pillow, if it weren't for Vader's enhanced senses, he wouldn't have been able to comprehend his son. This was usually how their father and son talks were like.

" You came home at three in the morning," Vader replied.

Luke groaned, he rolled over and sat up. They had this talk before, they had it a million times before in the past and still, his father was persisted on bringing the subject up. His father was too over protective. He could remember all those nights when he was young, he always had to stay home. No going out and playing for Luke, nope, just read or do something quietly in his room. It was such a boring childhood, no wonder he always tried to sneak out of the Castle. Many of his attempted escapes failed, but there were times when he made it and Vader would find him out on the streets an hour later, sometimes if Luke had been lucky, two hours later.

" I'm sorry, father," Luke apologized, though his voice lacked the sincerity, " but the Emperor called me away. I had this assassination job. It would have gone quicker too, but there was this girl who interfered. I think I've seen her before, a red head." He pictured her in his mind's eye, she was beautiful with a slim body, yet Luke hadn't been fooled by her feminine attributes. Women, were the most dangerous mortals to have around. Luke had known since he was fifteen. He had his first encounter a new the breed of women who were strong and very much like that red head. The type of women that could actually use a blaster and could fight back when chance called for it. They were shunned by the Imperials because they weren't viewed as 'proper ladies'. Luke stopped a smirk, but it was most likely to be the warrior women who would win in a shoot out. 

Vader was quiet, as if he were deep in thought. " A red head?" he repeated, " very muscular and fit?"

Luke nodded, " maybe she was a Jedi, she uses a lightsabre, but gods! She was such an amateur. I could sense that she uses the Force, but it was as if she had little training in it or something."

" Mara Jade," Vader said out loud, "it has to be."

Luke gave his father an expression of curiousity. " Who's this Jade character?"

Vader sighed, turned his back to his son, thinking as he remembered the past. " Mara Jade is another Hand of the Emperor. She, like you, was taken to be trained when she was very young. Don't you remember a certain mission that we went on when you were about six?"

Luke frowned and suddenly it rushed back to him, " yes..." he said, as he memories lingered on the edges of his mind, he tried to bring them forward, but he'd only been six at the moment. " I remember it the most because that was the time you killed two Jedi knights... her parents?"

Vader acknowledged him with a nod, " the Emperor wanted a servant who had total loyalty and but not very public. If you look her up in the files, you'll find nothing but her name and age."

Luke didn't know why, but he felt jealousy welling up inside of him. The Emperor didn't trust him enough, he had to go out and find someone else. A wisp of a memory touched the core of his mind, " I remember her now... she was that five year old girl that the Emperor brought back with him." Though this explained the origins of Jade, it didn't explain why the Emperor chose her to be his personal Hand when he had him, Luke Skywalker whose loyalty to the Empire would be unquestioned. He'd even been with the Empire longer then Jade had.

" He didn't choose you because you didn't have total loyalty towards him," Vader replied to his unasked question. " If ever a situation comes where you must choose sides, you would most likely choose mine, would you not?"

Luke gave his father a bewildered look, " of course I would!" he was shocked his father would even doubt his loyalty. " Don't tell me your losing faith in me too."

" No, it's not that at all," said Vader. Inwardly, he was pleased to have his doubts and fears allayed. Luke had strong loyalty, yet he'd never been sure who he was loyal to. " And the Emperor didn't loose faith in you. If he did, than you wouldn't be alive right now."

Luke sighed and leaned against the wall, he felt so tired and tomorrow was a school day. 

" You know what I don't understand if why I have to go to school and that Mara character doesn't, if there's one thing I know about the Emperor is that he's the type to give his 

servants the best and if she went to school, than she'd be going to same one I'm going to."

" She has a personal tutor and can't be bothered by such things," Vader said with contempt, he found his son's comment foolish, but he had to make allowances, after all, Luke was only a boy, " you are almost nearing the age of becoming a Sith Lord and when that happens, the Emperor intends to present you to the public, but there needs to be at least a little background information on you."

Luke felt excitement bubbling inside, he'd always dreamed of becoming a Sith Lord. His father was one and look how strong he was now. He frowned, Mara Jade had Force powers, yet she barely had the level of training in it that Luke had received. " So I guess the Emperor's Hand isn't aspiring to be a Sith?" Luke asked.

Vader made a sound, his equivalent to a snort, " An amateur like her? She doesn't know a thing about the Force, much less the ancient ways of the Sith. And her meagre skills can hardly be compared to yours."

Luke smirked, " she wasn't that bad, gave me a challenge, but I always liked to be challenged."

" You won of course," Vader said.

Luke nodded, " you'd think I'd let someone like her beat me?"

Under his mask, Vader smiled, Luke's comments always amused him. " I expected as much from you. I suppose you should sleep. Good night, Luke."

" Good night, father," Luke said, he watched as Vader stepped out of his room before he fell back to onto his pillow. He went to sleep rather quickly.

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In school the very next day, Luke did not appear to be in his best. His uniform was ruffled and wrinkled and there were dark rings under his eyes and he didn't have the vitallity that he usually had. He couldn't get past that fog in his brain during the morning and when lunch came he just listened to his friends speak while he sat and ate his lunch quietly.

" Is something the matter Luke?" said a voice that snapped him back to reality.

Luke stifled a yawn and looked up. He realized that it was Alléen who had snapped him back. He grimaced, they were all waiting for him to answer, yet he couldn't think of a good explanation. Finally he fell back on his usual account. " I didn't get that much sleep last night," he mumbled. Both Kiro and Alléen gave Luke wry glances but they'd been through this procedure before and found it best not to linger on the subject about his actions of the prior night.

Kiro, realizing that a change in subject would be good, asked, " have you heard? Mellin's father died of a heart attack last night."

Luke glanced up at his friends with this droopy look, " really?" he commented in a voice that had only the palest shade of interest. Such disregard could be easily dismissed as his hate for politics.

" Yes!" Kiro said, " but its not only that, Mellin's gone missing too and that dumb boyfriend of hers as well. The media thinks that Mellin found out about her father's death and took the opportunity to run off with her boyfriend."

" Well, that's nice," Luke once again, his voice was monotone, at least he knew his plan worked. " She was an admirable girl, too bad we won't be seeing her around."

" Have you even met Mellin?" Alléen asked giving him a weary glance.

Luke realized that he never really had a chance to speak with her, save for when he had killed her. This was the reason why he never made too many friends, the Emperor always came up with jobs for him to kill people, and sometimes, the people could be someone he knew. It'd happened a couple of times in the past, where he had to assassinate his own friends. Mellin was a pretty important figurehead in the school, Luke usually kept away from her.

" No," he said with a shake of his head, " but I've seen her a couple of times."

" Well, she's the skankiest girl alive, and the snobbiest, I don't really care if she's dead," Alléen replied with disdain, she took a bite of her lunch. 

Luke shrugged, he found it funny whenever Alléen made such profanity, " we all have our opinions, but I agree, she _is_ skanky."

" You guys shouldn't really talk about dead people that way," Kiro admonished.

Luke hid a smile, Kiro was always the superstitious type. He had claimed once he saw the ghost of a Jedi Knight hovering above his bed. Talk like that might get him hurt badly. That was one of the reasons why Luke hung around with him, mainly sympathy.

" I suppose," Luke propped his chin in his hands and gazed down at his lunch. Not exactly lean cuisine. 

" There are some people you hate even past death," Alléen replied, " and Mellin is one of the people on my list."

" You have a list now?" Luke asked wryly.

Alléen gave him one of those sweet, sick smiles that was obviously meant to taunt him. " Yes, my little Lukie, and I might add you on it someday if you don't stop skipping class."

" Hey, I don't skip," Luke snapped, she was obviously referring to that time when the Emperor had him on call and dragged him out of school.

" Then what do you call it, when someone runs out of the classroom for no damn' reason and disappears for two and a half hours?"

" I'd say an emergency call," Luke said, " I had some business to tend to."

" The way you talk, we'd think you were some kind of secret agent," Kiro said with a laugh. Luke tried to smile, but he couldn't believe how close Kiro got to the truth.

Fortunately for Luke, the bell rang for the next class.

End Part Two 

Part Three: Hands Meet 

It was Fete week, a wondrous celebration that marked the beginning of a new year. Luke in particular used to hate Fete week, but now, it was beginning to grow on him. 

Fete week, obviously lasted for seven days and during those seven days, large festivals are held on Coruscant and special events. Though a student only gets two days out of five off from school. The first day of the week for school, Luke had to go. But there were parties being held everywhere and so it just didn't seem like school at all. Most of the classes were cancelled because of the special tournaments that were being held in the auditorium. They were going to have a free-style fighting tournament during lunch and Luke had somehow been convinced by his friends to sign up, Kiro himself said that he would join as well.

The crowds cheered and holo-cameras rolled. Students from other schools were there as well and had signed up. In Luke's eye, this was shallow competition, so he didn't really expected to be motivated. But to others, this was a great way of missing classes. 

The only great thing about this competition was that they allowed you to dress up anyway you want. Luke was dressed in something similar to his assassin outfit, black jump suit with no sleeves. He wore his black combat boots and had his hair brushed away from his eyes.

" Whoa, Luke, never seen you dress up like that before, what's with the basic black?" Kiro asked as soon as Luke walked out of the dressing area.

" I like wearing black," Luke said with a shrug of his shoulders. Luke wouldn't admit that he was dressed in black because he thought that it gave him strength. His father always wore black clothes and this preconception had struck him since he was a young kid, but not only that, but black was a rather intimidating shade. 

Kiro himself was just dressed in short sleeves and shorts. The whole dressing room was full of boys that looked like they were beefed up on steroids only some of them were the same size as Kiro. 

" Aw, look, Lukie is entering the competition too!" laughed Jeff who sat on one those metal benches. The school jock and possibly the school jerk, but somehow, he ended up as the most popular guy there was. The others laughed. Luke's face became taught, Jeff was ringleader, the one who tortured his life and made school a living hell for him.

Luke felt his anger rising, he would have punched Jeff's lights out, but he knew the others would be on him right after the first blow. So instead, his got his revenge by using the Force to slide a bench right out from under him. Jeff found himself sprawled on the ground, Luke and Kiro weren't the only ones laughing.

" Looks like you need to work a little more on your coordination," Luke said with a smirk, he and Kiro walked out into the gym, the bleachers were jammed pack, Luke joined the other competitors and listened while the coach assigned them onto teams. Luke and Kiro had both been put on the Vader team, they would be competing about the Palpatines and the Xizors. 

The rules were simple, each team had an equal amount of people in them and a person could go up as many times as they want. There were five rounds and by the end of those five rounds, the team with the most points win.

" Well this is luck, isn't," Luke said, he smiled, " we're on Vader's team."

" What's so lucky about that?" Kiro asked, he had seen Vader only once in his life and had been freaked out about Vader's looks.

" I don't know," Luke said with a shrug. He groaned when he realized Jeff was also on his team. 

Luke and his team mates sat on the benches and watched as a person from Xizor and a person from Palpatine fought. Luke cringed, the way they fought was crude and horrible. 

And suddenly the match was over and the Palpatines were the winners of that match. They were ahead by two points. Now it was Xizors versus Vaders. Kind of like in the real life situation, Luke mused to himself. 

Jeff had been the one who volunteered for the match, he ran ahead onto the mat and faced his opponent. The match was over in no time and soon the Palpatines and Vaders were tied leaving Xizor behind with zero points. Every win counted as two points.

Now the Xizors and Palpatines were facing off once more.

Luke jerked as he realized who the competition were sending up to be their fighter. A girl... a red headed one whom he had seen before. 

" Mara Jade!" he exclaimed.

" Who?" Kiro turned to face him.

" That girl! I know her," Luke said, he stood up, " what in the world is she doing here?"

" I don't know, but the Palpatines are confident, sending a girl out to do a man's job," Jeff said with a laugh. 

Luke gave Jeff a glare and turned to watch the match. The fight began and it was over in only a matter of minutes, with Mara as the winner. In fact, Mara had put so much energy in her fighting that she had broken her opponents arm. 

Mara smirked and walked off the mat as the Vaders and Xizors were up again. This time, Kiro went up, the match was longer than expected, but Luke had to give it to Kiro, he was fighting at his best. And it was no wonder he walked out of the match the victor, even if he was a little worse for the wear.

Now the losing team, the Xizors had been eliminated and it was time for the tie breaker. It wasn't a wonder that the Palpatines sent out Mara. 

" I'm up," Luke said. 

Jeff groaned, " great, now we're going to lose this one."

Luke ignored Jeff's comment and ran up to the mat in a slow jog. He stopped a couple of metres away from Mara and gave her a smirk.

" So we meet again, Mara Jade," he said.

The red head smiled, " I wanted a rematch with you, Luke Skywalker."

Luke went into a fighting stance, as did Mara. " We'll see whose the better," he said. 

The bell rang; Luke and Mara lunged at each other. Luke brought his fist up, connecting with a blow to Mara's stomach. But the assassin woman retaliated with a sock to his chin. Luke jumped back and rubbed his jaw, he felt his anger rising, and studied Mara. He had seen her fight before, so he should know her technique. Luke's speciality wasn't his brute strength, it was his ability to adapt to another person's fighting skills and force himself to be superior to his opponent. It was his will to win, his anger was just a fuel and his strength was just a tool.

They continued on fighting, fists flying, feet twirling around in high kicks and jump kicks. The audience and everyone else in the room grew quiet as they watched. It was like watching professional Teräs Käsi masters. The two didn't just limit themselves to that form of martial arts, they continued on with eight different identifiable forms and two more that were subtle. 

The match lasted for ten minutes, a rather long match, and the two were tired. Luke and Mara stood as far away from each other as they could. Both of them were fatigued and sweat drenched their outfits. Luke didn't know if he could last much longer. But his will and determination made him move on. He took in a deep breath and went into a fighting stance, a challenge for Mara, the two charged once more, this time, Luke didn't exchange blows, instead, he waited until she tried to punch him. He relied on his fast reflexes on this. He grabbed her wrist and calling forth for every ounce of strength he had, he flipped her over on the mat, making sure that she would land hard. She was out cold, Luke collapsed beside her. It hurt so much to even breath, that she devil of a woman must have at least craked two of his ribs. He enjoyed the coming darkness. The last thing he heard were cheers coming from the crowds.

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Luke awoke in the infirmary of the school. He sat up and immediately regretted it. All of his muscles ached, and his calves were having spasms, tensing and then relaxing.

" You're awake!" Alléen said with a sigh of relief.

Luke rubbed his chin, his whole body screamed at him in pain, his hand went down to his rib cage, no broken bones, but they were very sore, she must have really connected blow there. " What happened?" he asked, even though memories were already rushing back.

" Luke, you won!" Alléen exclaimed, she gave him a beaming smile.

Kiro laughed, " I never knew you could fight like that Luke."

" Only when I'm properly motivated," Luke replied flat toned. " What happened to Mara?"

" She woke a little earlier then you and left," Alléen replied, there was this cold tone to her voice. " Honestly, she could be the most stuck up person I've ever met. How do you know her?"

" We met once..." Luke said, trailing off, " and it ended up in a fight. She's a... I guess the best word to say is a friend of the family, but neither my father, nor I like her."

" Than how can she be a friend?" Kiro asked.

Luke shrugged, " ask me again when I figure it out myself. I have to be nice to her or else I get punished. I saw this competition as a good way to get revenge."

" You lost to her last time?" Alléen laughed.

Luke gave his feminine friend a scowl, " of course not!" he exclaimed. " But I just don't like her, that's what."

" Well, either way, you won and you're the champ of Imperial Centre," Kiro said. " You're even going to be on the news."

" Great," Luke groaned, now he's in for it. If they show that video... He would need to get every piece of evidence and destroy it.

" I thought you'd be happy," Kiro said.

" I am," Luke said, " I'm just not really in my prime condition."

" Well, Fete week is still on," Alléen said, " what do you guys want to do now?"

" How about watch the parade? Kiro asked.

The other two friends agreed, though Luke had plans of his own.

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As soon as Luke walked out of the infirmary, he made a bee line towards the A.V. room, most likely where they'd keep the tapes. 

As soon as he was around the corner, he saw a familiar figure slip out of the room. The red headed Mara Jade.

" Hey, Jade," Luke said, taking a step forward.

Mara whirled around and saw that it was only Luke. She placed her hands on her hips and gave him a scowl.

" What is it, Skywalker? You want more beatings?" Mara snapped.

" You should be the one to talk, I creamed you," Luke retorted.

Mara snorted, " well, at least I can take my injuries a little more lightly."

" What are you doing here?" Luke snapped, " this is a private school, and you shouldn't even be here."

" I was taking care of some business," she held up a pack of holo-discs. " All of the stuff that was recorded of us. I guess you're here to do the same thing."

Luke didn't want to admit it, but it was pretty obvious, " yes," he said curtly, " but if you already have them, than I might as well forget about it go home."

" Back to Vader?" Mara snapped.

Luke gave her a menacing glare that would have frozen any ordinary student in their spot. But it only made Mara nervous.

" And what about you? Palpatine's little pet?" Luke asked, he then smirked, " I've seen you around the courts dancing for him you know. And by the way, you're quite the entertainer." 

Mara suddenly felt like there had been in explosion inside of her. She took the discs and hurled them at him. Luke ducked and turned to see the discs smash into the wall, scratched and unusable now.

" You are unbelievable," Mara said, gritting her teeth. " Just because Vader thinks you have a talent doesn't mean that you're more special than me."

She turned and walked off with this erect and angry posture. Luke watched after her, feeling a bit of remorse. But that was quickly washed away when he remembered he was supposed to meet his friends at the front of the school.

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" You're late," was Alléen's welcome.

Luke had a flush to his face, " I ran into a friend along the way."

" Uh-huh," Kiro said, he shrugged, " we have to hurry, the parade is about to start in ten standard minutes."

And hurry they did, the trio took seats that had a good view of everything. Luke watched as the floats began to past by, they weren't very intrusting, but then he saw Vader and the Emperor, the latter would on occasion wave, the former did not. He would just look around the crowd. That was until Vader caught Luke's eye. Under his mask, he smiled at Luke. The boy smiled back and watched his father pass by.

As soon as the parade was over, the trio began to wander around, rather bored out of their minds and with nothing to do.

That was when Alléen came up with the idea to go into one of those cantinas.

" I've never been in one and I've always wanted to see how their like... lets take one that's at the underground."

" Below the city?" Kiro asked, he shivered, " I don't know, that seems rather dangerous, who knows what's down there."

" We have Luke here to protect us," Alléen said with a laugh.

" Still, I wouldn't go down there without a good blaster by my side," Luke said, " especially if the people down there knows we're part of the upper class people."

Alléen sighed, " all right, then we do nothing, how about that?"

Luke gave Alléen an annoyed look, " fine, we'll go down there and lets get beat up."

" Great!" Alléen said, ignoring the cynicism in his voice. " Let's go!" She grabbed both their arms and charged towards the nearest elevator.

Lower Imperial Centre was not the most classy place. Though on the surface, you'd see mainly middle-class and upper-class, the people there were mostly humans, save for a few of those special alien races. But lower Imperial Centre was where all the filth and scum bags hung. Including humans, aliens and who knows what. 

Luke didn't like to venture so far down, it was not like he had never been here before, its just that he didn't want to meet those feral people. 

He had heard of them, savages that fed off rats and slugs, people who have never seen the light of day nor probably ever would. They, of all the people on Coruscant, scared him the most. His father told him stories about them to scare him, but those stories had did a subconscious number on Luke. The furthest down, Luke had ever gone was to level four. There were beasts and wild animals down there he hoped he would never meet.

" You know, sometimes, I like to imagine myself part of the Rebellion," Alléen said with a laugh as they travelled the lonely parts of streets. 

Luke arched an eyebrow at her, the Rebellion, they were beginning to become a nuisance to both his father and the Emperor. His father told him that they were coming up with a plan and it would soon shut the Rebels up.

" Really?" he asked. " Why?"

" Well, because I think it might be fun and heroic. You've got to admit, with all the great things the Empire has, its just flawed," Alléen said. " I've heard the stories, the massacres." She shuddered, " I don't want to be part of something that causes such destruction."

" The Rebellion had their share of blood shed too," Luke pointed out. 

" But they were fighting for a better cause," Kiro said, joining in on the conversation. The Rebellion had become a hot topic in school, they had heard that the rebels were looking for able pilots and good soldiers who were willing to sacrifice their lives.

" I don't know, the Empire has stability and peace," Luke said, he didn't like to hear such talk about the government that his father worked and helped create. " There are so many opportunities here. What can happen if you join the Rebellion? Its like putting a death sentence on yourself."

" You sound like an Imperial," Alléen said, giving him a glare.

" Well it can't be helped if one's father is one," Luke snapped. " My father is an admirable man and I think this whole Rebellion thing is over blown. What possibly could they do to us? With their old space fighters and blasters?"

" They could do plenty," Alléen snapped. " I believe eventually, the Rebellion will be the victor."

" I don't think so," Luke said with a shake of his head. " What do you think, Kiro?"

" Well, one way or another, I don't really care," Kiro said with a shrug of his shoulders. " Having the Rebellion rule over would be nice, but the Empire was the government I grew up in... besides, my mom's an Imp."

Luke and Alléen both gave Kiro a glare before they marched off into a quaint looking bar. It was dimly lit with the stench of something Luke couldn't quite put his finger on, like alcohol and tobacco mixed together. Inside the room was a whole mixture of aliens and humans. There was no music and the ground of sticky. Luke felt sick to his stomach, but also a thrill, perhaps he would meet some smugglers, that would be very interesting.

They went up the bar and tried to act as casual as they could, but failed, every eye in the place was placed on them. 

" What do you want?" the bar tender asked as soon as they took their seats. A part human looking being, didn't seem to be the very gentle kind and Luke didn't really want to drink something out a cup he touched. 

" Um... what's your most popular brand?" Alléen asked. 

" Diantam, little lady," he said with a toothy grin, which was really repulsive, his breath stank. 

" Okay, we'll have three of those," Alléen said.

" Whatever you say," he said, he turned his back to them and began pouring drinks. Luke stared around him in awe and wonderment. There were creatures playing card games and any kind of game that was involved with gambling. Luke was watching the table that was closest to him. It consisted of two humans, a Wookiee, a Rodian and two other aliens he couldn't identify.

He caught the eye of one of the humans, a dark haired man with blue eyes who certainly didn't look like he was dressed for a party. His companion seemed to be that Wookiee. The man gave Luke a smirk before he laid his hand down. 

" Sabaac," he said in this smooth voice.

The other aliens groaned and the human just laughed as he collected in his earnings. Luke smirked and turned to face his friends again. 

" Here you go," the bar tender said, plopping three glasses down, dirty glasses with the drink spilling over the sides. Luke stared at it, a flush to his face. He didn't really want to try it, he glanced over at the Kiro and Alléen, who were taking a sniff out of their drinks.

" You have weird taste, Alléen," Luke said. 

Alléen gave Luke a glare, " then why don't you try it? Mr. Smarty? You haven't even gotten a sniff of it yet."

It was a challenge, and Alléen knew it. She knew that Luke would never turn down a challenge.

" Alright, fine," Luke took the glass and began drinking it down in large gulps. He almost retched it out again when he put the glass down. He wiped the liquid from mouth off with his sleeve, since there seemed to be no tissue around.

" Not... bad," Luke burped and felt like he was about to puke.

" A little word of advice kid," said a voice from behind. Luke turned to see that human, from the Sabaac table, he could see that this man was a Corellian. " Never drink Diantam down at that speed." He took a seat beside Luke and ordered himself a drink.

" I saw you win over there," Luke said, " do you always gamble to earn money?"

It was meant as an insult, but the man just laughed at his comment and took the glass of ale that was set down in front of him.

" Listen, kid, a guy's gotta do what they can to earn a living," he stared Luke over, " but I can tell you don't even have to lift a finger in your world."

" _My_ world?" Luke asked.

" You're a snooty class-men from up above," he said, " I could tell right away, from your accent to the way you sit."

" Glad I'm that obvious," Luke said, he stared the man over, " you're from Corellia, but... it sounds like you haven't been home for a long time. You're also a smuggler."

" Hmm, you're pretty good, kid," he said. 

" Luke, who in the world are you talking to?" Alléen asked, Luke turned to face her and shrugged, " some smuggler."

" The name's Han, kid, Han Solo," the Corellian said, he tilted his glass towards him. " So you're Luke?"

" Yes," Luke said, " what are you doing here on Imperial Centre anyway? Smugglers aren't really welcomed here."

" Enjoying the celebration and picking up some cargo," he answered. 

" Well, don't worry, no reportings here," Luke said.

" What makes you think what I'm picking up ain't legit?"

" You're a smuggler," Luke answered, " What else would you be doing?"

Han laughed, " you're a very naive kid," he said, " but guess that's good. Gives you more room to grow up."

Luke would have been offended, but he was beginning to like this Han Solo guy. 

Suddenly Alléen and Kiro stood up and tapped Luke's shoulder, " its getting late, Luke, we need to go now."

Luke sighed and nodded. He turned to face Han and gave him a smirk, " well, Han Solo, I'll look you up someday and see if I can find you in the records, if you're even in them."

The last thing Luke heard from the cantina was Han's mocking laughter.

As they took the lift back up to the surface, Luke became aware for the first time that someone was watching him. He quickly scanned the area outside of the transparasteel walls, trying to locate the peeper, but saw no one. Before he could do anything else, that feeling of being watched disappeared. He decided not to think about it.

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Luke sat on his bed, using it as a sofa as he watched the holo-news. It was just a bunch of junk about the Rebellion and political stuff that he never liked. It showed a recording of what happened in the Senate earlier. Senator Bail Organa was making a speech about the freedom and equality of the people. Talk like that usually landed people in trouble, but Alderaan was a very influential system and anything that would have happened to the Senator might be bad for the public. Unless the Emperor came out with some sort of method in maintaining his control over the Empire without the Senate, he could do nothing about people like Organa. Luke frowned, there was something he didn't like about Organa. He switched off the holo-proj and laid back in bed, relaxing his muscles. His stomach wasn't working well after drinking that glass of Diantam. Both the Emperor and Vader prohibited Luke from drinking any sort of alcoholic drinks, but who was to stop him? He rubbed his stomach and considered Organa. That man was very untrust worthy, he didn't know why, a premonition of the Force maybe?

_Of course I don't trust him,_ Luke thought, _Organa's the type to jump ship. He's obviously a Rebel sympathizer._

Didn't Organa have a daughter? Yes, he did, a Leia Organa, princess of Alderaan. Though her royal title didn't do her good anymore since Alderaan was more of a democracy then a monarchy. Princess Leia wasn't exactly a beautiful woman, but she did have a striking appearance to her that appealed to some men. Luke pursed her lips, he'd met her a couple of times on Palpatine's court. Always as a Senator there, never as a princess. She wanted to be impressive and as much as Luke hated to admit it, the Princess _was_. Senator Organa was the same age as he was and could talk as smoothly as cream if she wanted to. Luke truly believed that if he'd ever had a conversation with that woman, then he would have talked himself into a corner. She had a way of doing that, a very good trick for people who wanted to get into politics. 

Too bad _he_ didn't have that kind of skill, Luke mused glumly. He was good at a great deal of things, but politics was something he should really avoid. He scratched the back of his neck and yawned, wouldn't it be nice to go to sleep right now? He glanced at the chrono-metre, it was only seven and he had homework to do. 

Better get cracking, Luke sprang up from bed and lugged his bag from the floor, he pulled out the proper textpads and writing utensils for the job. He probably worked for two more hours before he got a call on his comm system. He threw his textpad on the floor from irritation. He knew what _that_ call was going to be about. He even knew who sent it. 

" No!" he exclaimed and rolled back his chair, almost crushing the text pad. He wasn't in any mood to do any sort of assassination job. Not like he really had a choice though, he let the comm chime a couple of more times, hoping that the Emperor might just give up. Stupid thought, the Emperor already knew he was here. If it wasn't going to be through the comm, then it was going to be through the Force. Luke grunted and finally answered it, a hologram of the Emperor appeared before him. It was a secure channel so there was no worry about people listening in. 

" Luke Skywalker, report to my throne room immediately," the Emperor said. He was brief and quick to the point. Almost like his father, Luke mused as the Emperor cut off the transmission. He sighed and gathered up the necessary gear, what would it be now? Sabotage or maybe the Emperor would have him killing off another person-no, it was different. If the Emperor ever wanted him to do a minor job, he would always send it through the comm and give him scant instructions. Whatever his master wanted was very important, otherwise, the Emperor wouldn't have him going all the way to the throne room and waste time in the process. 

As soon as his gear was together, Luke headed for the Palace.

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Luke couldn't recall the first time he'd ever been inside of the throne room. He believed it was on a tour or something when he was three... back in the days when he'd once lived in an orphanage. It was strange to think that he was ever separated from his father, but Vader confirmed it and his father wouldn't lie, especially about something as absurd as that. He also had the memories that vouched for his father. Still, even after all these years, entering the throne room still gave him chills. It was never brightly lit as most Imperial rooms were. Instead it was dim and the only light came out of the window from behind the throne which sat on top of a step pyramid. There was nothing wrong about the throne room, it could have been cozy if one wanted it to be, perhaps it was the presence of the Evil One that sat on that throne. The master of the galaxy.

Luke climbed the stairs and quickly bowed before the throne. It was turned to face the window. The throne was large with one of those tall and wide backs that gave no clue whether or not it was occupied. Luke wasn't a fool though, he could feel the Emperor's presence resonating along with the Force. Like all life, the Emperor had his own place in the Force. 

Slowly, the chair turned, the Emperor's face stared down at Luke, it was like it'd always been, decayed and fleshy with the signs of death clawing its way at him. Luke surppressed the urge to shiver and fought to hide his feelings. The Emperor was like death, he embodied it and that was how he lived. 

" Ah, young Skywalker, you've arrived on time, as it would be expected," the Emperor added as an afterthought. 

" Matters are urgent, my master, I try to come as early as possible," Luke replied, staring at the ground, trying to avoid the Emperor's yellow eyes. It was as if every time he looked into those yellow eyes he was being read, that those eyes were yellow because they gave the Emperor the power to see inside a person's soul. A silly superstition that had clung onto Luke since childhood. 

" Hmm, yes, yes, I'm well aware of that," the Emperor said, waving away the sentence as if it were some fly, not to be thought of, just to be swatted at. The Emperor liked loyalty, but he did also like it whenever a person amused him. Neither Luke nor Vader could give him that amusement, they both knew the true power of the Emperor and they were both frightened of it.

The Emperor once again turned his throne around to face the window, it gave him a grant vantage point over the Galactic City. From there, he could watch the bustling airspeeders and pedestrians walk to and fro. They were so small from his window yet they all were a part of his Empire. 

" As you are well aware of," the Emperor said as he continued on watching the people play out their lives. " The Rebellion has been rather active lately."

" Yes, my master," Luke said, it wasn't a question, but the Emperor did expect a reply of some sort. 

" Certain actions of a Senator has caught my attention lately," the Emperor turned around to face Luke. " His name is Shorn Tirral. He _must_ be taken care of, young Skywalker. This Senator knows too much... about the Death Star and about the Empire. I need not _stress_ the importance of this matter."

" It is clear," Luke replied, his heart raced, " he will be terminated."

The Emperor smiled, quite amused, " tracking him down will prove to be too difficult for you to do, young Skywalker, since he's gone into hiding and especially since I want him deceased very soon. You will work with a partner in tracking him down."

Luke's head came up, " a partner, master? But I need no partner, I work alone. With my Force strength, I don't need anyone else to help me-" He quickly shut his mouth when he noticed the flicker of displeasure come across the Emperor's face. 

" Do you have a question concerning my orders, young Skywalker?" he asked, leaning forward, his eyes locking onto Luke's. He found it hard to avert his gaze, was it some sort of Force prompting that the Emperor was using on him now? 

" Nn...No!" Luke managed, " of course not, master. I was just... surprised."

The Emperor leaned back in his chair, satisfied, " very good, young Skywalker." He gestured over behind Luke in the darkness. Luke turned and in stepped Mara Jade, dressed in her black assassin's uniform. She stopped short when she saw him, her face becoming cold, she pursed her lips and controlled her facial expressions and continued on. 

" Luke Skywalker, meet Mara Jade," his smile became a toothy grin, " though of course, I'm sure you two have met before. She will be your new partner, but don't worry, you'll be in charge of this mission."

That was a laugh, the person he wanted to kill turns out to be his ally. His eyes narrowed at the sight of Mara, " I will not fail you," Luke replied, he bowed his head once before getting up to leave. He passed Mara without even giving her a glance. He only muttered, " come Jade." He headed for the door and could hear the quick footsteps of Mara Jade as she followed.

In his throne room, the Emperor smiled and sat back, everything was going according to plan.

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They strolled down the halls in silence. Luke fuming and who knows what Mara was feeling, hidden behind that Force barrier of hers. Vader would have been amused, he'd heard about the little fight both he and Mara had back at school and was all too pleased about it. He reprimanded Luke for showing off his skills out in public but also congratulated him on his victory.

_So now I have to work with her instead of fighting her_, Luke thought as they approached a small foyer in the Imperial Palace. He glanced over at Mara, who was silent and staring at the ground, when she noticed his glance over at her, she glared at him. Luke quickly brought his gaze forward. He assessed his situation and realized he had three options.

One: he could order Jade to stand down while he did the mission himself. If he did, then the Emperor would not be all too pleased since he gave specific orders, so that was out of the question.

Two: he could make Jade do all of the work while he worried about school work. Once again, that was out of the question for the same reasons.

His third and final option was not one he liked. Three: he could become allies with Jade and they could worked together in finding the assassin, put away petty differences and become... friends? The Emperor seemed to want this, so it added a positive check mark to the option, but Luke certainly didn't. 

Oh well, whatever the Emperor willed, Luke would do. He stopped and turned to face Mara, who'd also stopped. " Listen, Jade, if we're to work together on this mission, then I suggest we put the past behind us... for now that is. We can be partners and track down this Senator together. After that, we can go back and be enemies again." Luke extended a hand and arched an eyebrow at her.

Mara stared at his hand and considered his appeal, finally, after realizing her situation. Instead of slapping his hand away she took it and shook. " Allies for now," she replied with a smirk on her face. 

Luke stared at their clasps hand and felt his cheeks warm up, a new feeling stirred up inside of him. It was almost like that bond that he had with Vader, but this... was different, completely different, yet still the same. He immediately pulled his hand away from hers and pushed those strange feelings back. " As your new partner and the leader of this mission, I expect no screw ups," Luke said, it was meant to irk her.

To his surprise, Mara wasn't angered at his comment she only continued on smiling, " and I expect the same from you." She tossed her head and turned, leaving a bewildered Luke watching her. As soon as she'd disappeared around a corner, Luke allowed himself a smile before going on to his separate way. 

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Luke arrived home from school to find Mara Jade sitting on his bed. At first he was startled to find someone in his room when he was expecting to be alone. After his initial shock had worn, he found himself becoming angry at Jade for intruding upon his room, his private shrine which he'd decorated to his own perfection. He'd heard once that a person's room always reflected the occupant's personality. For having Jade here for who knows how long, she could have already discerned his personality. He felt shallow, almost transparent for having her here. 

After his lapse of paranoia, Luke finally regained his composure, Mara Jade was expecting him to say something. He dropped his bag onto the floor beside his bed and pulled his chair away from his desk, taking one of his multitools in hand and an unfinished lightsabre in the other, Luke began working away on it. He could obviously feel Mara's annoyance at being ignored like this and she caught on to his game too. If he was going to ignore her, then she would do it too. Luke furiously worked on the lightsabre until finally he couldn't take it anymore and dropped it onto the table along with the multi-tool. He whirled his chair around to face her and arched an eyebrow at Jade.

" You have a reason for being in here?" Luke asked, his tone was of a person in deep annoyance.

Jade's face, which had once been expressionless, lightened up to a smile, if Luke didn't know better, he would have almost thought she was laughing at him behind those green eyes of hers. " Well Skywalker, I came here obviously to at least start our mission if not finish it."

" Well, Ms. Jade, do you have any ideas?" Luke asked snidely, he stood up and went over to his school bag, agent or not, he did have homework to do. 

" I suggest we check Tirral's last known whereabouts," Mara replied, pulling a chair up to his comm station, she made herself comfortable, she stared down at the terminal and ran her fingers along the board. " Hmmm... you have the Emperor's private channel here."

Luke shrugged, " So? I bet you do too."

Mara smirked, " for your information, Skywalker, I don't need a comlink to communicate with the Emperor."

Luke arched an eyebrow at her, apparently, his given information about Jade was not enough. " So you communicate to him... how?"

" The Force that you so boastfully claim to have mastered," Mara replied, " don't think I don't know about your bragging."

Luke blushed, she wasn't supposed to have heard what he'd said to the Emperor. What had he been thinking? Reminding the Emperor about his powers and what a threat he could be.

Yes, Luke knew that the Emperor was afraid of him, of his strength, he'd seen it in the Emperor's eyes every time they locked gazes. What he could never understand was why the Emperor kept him alive and even let him be trained in the ways of the Force to become an even larger threat to him. Certainly the Emperor was confident but even Luke knew better. Both he and Vader could team up and destroy the Emperor, if he were in Palpatine's situation, he would have done it differently, leave no loose strings. 

He continued on his homework until he felt Mara's stirring in the Force. He turned to face her, " have you found something?"

" Well... not exactly, I'm still looking for a picture of this Tirral character," Mara admitted, " he wasn't a major player in the Senate, no wonder the Emperor hasn't known about his activities until now."

" The Emperor doesn't really seem to care about what Tirral's death could do," Luke murmured, " but he seems to care about the consequences of Senator Organa's death."

Mara turned to face him now, a scowl on her face, " why would the most powerful man in the Galaxy care about some pitiful Emperor's death?"

Luke shrugged, " I don't know, Alderaan's a powerful planet and the people believe in Organa, it's just politics."

Slowly did Mara's face lighten up, she favoured Luke with a smile, " something you obviously don't play well in."

Luke laughed, " I guess its not in me."

Mara turned to face the terminal again, surprised by Luke's easiness in accepting her, she still found it hard to believe him, no matter how trusting he was. As she typed in a new search, her eyes wandered over towards the unfinished lightsabre on his desk. " I thought you already had one," Noticing Luke's perplexed expression, she nodded over towards the weapon.

It dawned on Luke's face, a sheepish grin appeared on his lips, " oh _that_." He picked up the unfinished tool, " well... I'm trying to build a lightsabre of my own. The one I used in the alley-against you-that one Vader built for me."

Mara nodded, " makes sense that you want one of your own... I heard it was some sort of Sith/Jedi ritual."

Luke shrugged, " I don't know about the Jedi, but I just wanted to build one, my only hope is that it won't explode on me."

Despite herself, Mara began to grin at Luke's little joke, she quickly turned her chair around to face the terminal, trying to hide it. Last thing she needed was for a cocky agent to think he was funny. Her attention was directed to the screen once more when she heard a beep. " All right," she said, " we've got picture and some info."

Luke came up beside her and glanced down at the terminal, he frowned, " that's him?" he asked. The Senator was older then expected, especially for a man who was suspected of collaboration with the Rebels. 

Mara nodded, " yeah, says here that he's got a wife, no children. Can't figure out where he's gone to, but all of his accounts have recently been depleted and he's been shopping."

" Interesting," Luke murmured though his voice was far from being interested, " do you think he's planning some sort of trip."

It wasn't a question, Mara knew, but she answered anyway, " most likely, though I've pulled up every passport files in the system that has his picture on it, nothing's come up yet. He hasn't been to any sort of agency to book a flight."

" Which means he's gone into hiding somewhere here on Imperial Centre," Luke said snidely, " you know, that's just great because I just love going on these wild goose chases. Come on, it's better if we work in Vader's communications room, there's a better set up there."

Mara shrugged and gestured for Luke to lead, not like she knew her way around Vader's Castle. Luke gave her an amused expression before he headed towards door. 

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Mara backed away from her terminal and grinned in triumph. " Hah! Found something on him." After hours of searching, she'd finally found something. She had to trace Tirral's steps carefully but she finally found the information needed. 

Luke glanced up from his terminal and frowned, " what?"

" Tirral's location," Mara replied. She gestured for him to take a look. They were in Vader's communications centre, the homebase of where all transmissions coming in and out of the castle were received and transferred over to different comms around the Castle. It also had a link to the holonet and commnet. It was typical Imperial design, a large circular room with terminals set up against the wall. The floor, the walls and the ceilings were the same ugly gray-blue shade and the lights had a glaring feature to it.

" Very impressive," Luke praised as he glanced over her shoulder towards the monitor. The details were a bit foggy, but it had to be him, the information and confirmed picture ID, they all matched. Not very surprising that Tirral was going by an alias, but neither Luke nor Mara were stupid. 

Mara glanced about the comm-centre, it was just as boring as all the other rooms. " How do you stand living in this place?" she asked, gesturing around her. " It's so plain and boring."

Luke paused, they were starting to get off topic here. Apparently she wasn't worried about the mission. He briefly glanced around him and shrugged, " standard Imperial design," he replied. " A normal soldier of the Empire wouldn't even have thought twice about it."

" Well as you can already tell, I'm not your average Imperial," Mara said snidely, she folded her arms, " and the Emperor is the heart and soul of the Empire and look at his home."

" Do you really think I have any control over this place?" Luke asked, he was starting to get annoyed at her for straying so far off topic. She just seemed to love pushing her limits on his patience. " Besides, I see nothing wrong with this place. Lord Vader doesn't care about appearances."

Mara hid a smile, sometimes getting a person angry was a great way in figuring out their personalities. " What about you? I've seen your room," Mara pointed out, " you obviously have some control over it and you care so don't start preaching Vader's admonishments at me." Luke bit down on his tongue.

" And you care about your appearance, I look at you know, all dressed up like some sort of Sith Lord. You delude yourself into believing that you are one when you're obviously not," Mara said, giving him a critical glance over. Though he was wearing the standard ICPA uniform, the outfit he wore underneath the jacket was very reminiscent to that of the Sith Lords in the past. 

This finally pushed Luke over the edge. To have his dreams and ideals made fun of like this was something he didn't take very lightly. " What about you?" he snapped his anger now boiling over. " You act like the Emperor's Hand, you believe that your position in the Empire is actually important when it means absolutely nothing. You're not the only Hand to the Emperor and you weren't even the first."

Mara Jade's green eyes narrowed, she pursed her lips, the muscles on her jawline tightening. " Don't get cocky on me Skywalker."

" And you think you can just come into Vader's Castle and talk to me like that?" Luke asked. He slammed his fist onto the terminal, nearly making Mara jump. After his sudden release of anger, he calmed down and glanced down at Mara. " I believe in something and that's the power of the Empire and the power of the Sith Lords. You may think you're an authority when it comes to being the Emperor's Hand, but you know barely anything about the Force."

There was an awkward silence as both Mara and Luke couldn't think of anything to say. Finally, Luke deemed a change of subject would be right, " I can get him tonight," Luke said, glancing over towards her. 

Mara turned her chair around to face Luke, she arched an eyebrow at him, " sorry, Skywalker, but I found him, so it's my privilege to kill him."

Luke snorted, " like I'm going to let an amateur like you do something like that."

" _Amateur_?" Mara repeated in incredulity. Her eyes widened with offence and quickly narrowed with anger. " How can you actually call me an amateur?" She snapped, standing up now and pointed a finger into Luke's face in an emphatic gesture of dominance, " I have more experience in this sort of thing-"

" And I'm the one who's in charge," Luke pointed out, undaunted by Mara Jade's anger he swatted her hand out of his face. " So this is my decision."

" No way Skywalker," Mara said asserting herself. He might be Vader's apprentice and favoured by the Emperor for his power, but she knew better then to let some hot-headed highschool boy-though she was sure he was at least a year older then she-do a job that was meant for a woman. " I'm doing it."

Luke's pupil's narrowed, his anger blazing once more, he kept his jawline firm and for a moment, Mara was unsure of what Skywalker might do. She'd figured a part of him out so far, but there were still some gray areas. Situations like these that made her wonder. He was hot-headed but he was obviously fuelled by his anger. 

" We'll do it together then," Luke replied, he turned away from her and went up to his terminal, pushing the chair back into its alcove. He turned to face her after a silent pause, his anger now dissipated, " I think it's about time we adjourned this meeting. I have training and homework to do."

Mara shrugged, trying to make it seem as if she didn't care about what he did, though she was interested in what kind of training he was doing. " Fine, Skywalker, whatever you want," she replied coldly. " I'll just escort myself out. I'll be back here tonight so we can finish the mission, after that, we won't even have to see each other anymore."

" It'll be paradise when I won't have to see your face again!" Luke shouted after her.

Luke watched her leave and caught himself, he closed his mouth. Where did she come off with her attitude, coming in here and pushing him around in his own home. Luke huffed and quickly gathered his equipment, angrily stuffing them into his bag before returning to his quarters.

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The residency of Senator Tirral wasn't really that secure, but had enough alarms to wake up the entire planet. No guards, no arms, this was the kind of mission that took only a couple of minutes to accomplish and then twenty more to make it seem as if the Empire had no hand in it. 

Both Luke and Mara rented an apartment for the night across from the building that Tirral lived in. It was one of those complexes, where you could look right into the next building and see what the people were eating for dinner. 

They'd been in that building, watching them for over eight hours, waiting for them to get to sleep. Both Mara and Luke eventually cooled down after their fight and compromised to work together as a team. The two of them sat on a couch facing the window that looked into Tirral's apartment, it seemed as if the Senator and his wife would never go to sleep.

Mara glanced over at Luke and felt him fidget under her gaze, he kept his eyes straight ahead, intent on watching the Senators until they went to sleep. Though she knew he was just using it as an excuse to not look at her. " I've been doing some research on you," she said, speaking for probably the first time in hours. " You know on what most of the public data banks have on you."

Luke didn't look at her, though his fidgeting did get worse, " yeah?" he asked trying to act nonchalant, " and what did you find?"

" That you're an "A" student and most of your records are fake. It also told me that you're from an orphanage?" she waited to see his reaction, though he kept his face neutral, she could see the muscle lines around his jaws tense. 

" My parents died when I was a child," Luke replied, glancing over at her, if the Emperor hadn't informed Mara of his heritage, then it was for a reason. " My father before I was born and my mother right after. For a brief while I lived on Tatooine before I somehow ended up here on Coruscant. I don't really remember much of my past." Luke paused and glanced over at her for the first time since they met at Vader's Castle, " I try not to."

Mara stared at the ground, " I don't remember my parents either, I was only five when I was taken to see the Emperor. What about you?"

" Three," Luke replied, " it was Lord Vader who found me and gave me a home. He's a... father to me." He paused and stared back out into the Senator's apartment. " Your mother was nice and so was your father, even though they were Jedi."

Mara's head turned, she jerked back, " what?! You knew my parents?"

Luke shrugged, " yes... sort of. I saw them briefly before they were killed."

Mara grabbed Luke's shoulder and turned him around to face her, " what happened to them?" she demanded. " And how do you know?"

" I went along with Vader on the mission," Luke replied, he pulled back. 

" Tell me what you remember," Mara persisted. 

Luke sighed in disgust. " I shouldn't have told you at all."

" Just tell me!" Mara snapped, her hands nearly trembled, this was the closest she'd ever gotten to her parents. He was her link to her family. " Please, Luke..." her voice grew soft, " I deserve to know."

Luke stared into her green eyes, this time, instead of seeing those cold barrier walls, he saw deep compassion and care, " the Emperor... and Vader would hate me... but... I think you do deserve to know about your parents." He pursed his lips, it was so long ago, he was only a child then. And with an idleness his memories slowly resurfaced...

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Luke squirmed in his seat, he had been riding in the shuttle for well over half an hour now! Vader sat beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him from squirming.

" Are we almost there yet?" Luke asked, turning to face him. A young boy of six and he was already a rather intelligent boy, from all that training he had been receiving. He was rather eager to see the Jedi and to see his father kill a couple of them.

" A couple of more minutes, Luke," Vader said, chiding him. 

Luke stopped his fidgeting and waited, trying to be patient, but very much like his father, patience was not his strongest feature or virtue.

And finally to his relief, the shuttle began landing. Luke followed Vader off, he was surrounded by those tall men, Storm Troopers, all of them dressed in an outfit almost like his father's, but snowy white, not black, and there was no cape.

Luke held onto his father's hand, they were in a world filled with many, many tall trees, so tall that Luke had to crane his little neck to see the tops. His father had told him that this planet was small and not many people lived here. That was the reason why there were so many trees. 

Not too far off was a small house, it looked like a hut really. Luke had been told that he had lived in such places before he had moved to Imperial Centre, but he couldn't remember.

Vader turned to Luke and squeezed his hand firmly, " I want you to stay with the Storm Troopers, Luke. I have work to do."

Luke groaned, " can't I watch you kill the Jedi?"

Under his mask, Vader smiled, such a strong unknown hatred did this boy have towards the Jedi! He nodded, " all right, but I want you to stay with the Storm Troopers." And in turn, Vader faced the Captain, " I want you to protect this boy with your life. And if _anything_, happens to him, your lives will pay for it dearly."

The Storm Trooper Captain swallowed and nodded, " of course, Lord Vader." He pulled the boy towards him, " you'll have no worries about him."

" Then come," Vader said, he turned and marched, off, Luke and the Storm Troopers marched behind him and stopped five metres away from the house. 

Vader stopped in front of the house and had his lightsabre ready. He waited, the others waited, Luke waited! But nothing happened until Luke earnestly thought that the Jedi had ran off, then suddenly he felt a certain fear coming from inside the house. The door opened and three figures stepped out, two tall ones, adults, one female and one male and a younger one, a girl, she looked just about the same age as Luke, possibly younger. He couldn't really tell, she looked scared and she clutched tightly to her mother's arm. 

" You are to surrender that girl over to me," Vader said, switching his lightsabre on. 

" Darth Vader, you of all people should know better," said the man. " As a father I wouldn't give up my own child."

Luke locked eyes with the girl who was staring right at him at the moment. Luke gave the girl a glare and turned to watch his father. 

" Then you choose your own death warrant," Vader said.

There was something of a smirk on the male Jedi's face. " I didn't really think I had a chance in surviving."

Vader smiled under his mask, " you're right Jedi." He began advancing towards them. Luke's heart thudded. _Go dad!_ He thought, cheering his father on.

The girl cowered and was suddenly scooped up into the arms of her mother. 

The Jedi Knight turned to face his wife. " Go, run!" he exclaimed. He switched his lightsabre on and jumped in front of Vader, swinging it, Vader brought his up and parried it, though he had to take a step back. Luke watched enthralled by this dual that was about to begin. 

Their weapons of light locked and the two struggled for the upper hand. Luke and the other Storm Troopers took a step back as the two users of the Force began advancing towards them. Their lightsabres clashing, sending sparks and squeals that hurt Luke's ear. His father fought one handed while the Jedi had to fight with two. This really marred Luke's admiration of the Jedi. What good were they when they had all been wiped out by a couple of Imperials? 

Luke, too enraptured by this battle did not think to move when the Jedi had tripped near him and almost swung his lightsabre at him. Luke cried out and tripped. The Storm Troopers had all scattered, leaving poor Luke alone. The Jedi, stared at the kid with a look of sympathy and remorse. 

" You could have been a Jedi of good," he said, his voice was soft and filled with tenderness " but your father has twisted your ways."

Luke tried to sidle away from his this man as far as he could. " Daddy!" he exclaimed.

Darth Vader had already been charging at the Jedi and now with his son's frantic scream, his anger only bubbled even more. He swung his lightsabre down and cauterized the man, the man's body faded before it even touched the ground. Luke scrambled up onto his feet and rushed to his father, hugging his father's leg and trembling. Luke switched his lightsabre off and patted his son on the head. He scooped down and picked him, up, " don't worry, Luke. The Jedi is dead."

" What about the other one?" Luke implored. " Did you come to this planet to get the girl?"

Vader nodded, " I did, she won't get far though, come, let's see if we can find her and the girl."

Luke nodded and allowed Vader to carry him into the forest. With his father, he felt safe.

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They approached the neck of the woods before Vader was able to spot the woman who was holding her child in her arms. The girl was crying, afraid, Luke couldn't understand why she would be crying. They were just going to take her to a better place.

Suddenly he understood as he squirmed in his father's grip. In order for this girl to leave with the Empire, their parents must die. That seemed sad, Luke had lost his parents before and had been an orphan for three years before his father was able to find him again.

Luke felt Vader squeeze his hand with a comforting assurance. " It is for the best, my son." Though there was some sort of regret in his voice. 

" Why do they have to die?" Luke asked, " why can't she live with her mommy and daddy on Imperial Centre?" 

" Because we only need the girl," Vader explained. " The parents will just get in the way."

Luke didn't quite understand, but decided not to ask any more questions. Vader put Luke down and told the boy to stay close to him. He stalked up to Jedi woman and her child. The Jedi turned and faced Darth Vader and then stared at the little boy, " your son looks just like his father." She was referring to Anakin and not him.

" And he will be as powerful as well," Vader retorted. " Surrender the girl, we promise we will give her a wonderful life."

" As another one of the Emperor's servant's?" the woman countered. " You have a son of your own, can't you understand?"

" I do," Vader said with sincere sympathy. " But I have my duty and Luke is not part of this."

The woman stared at Luke again. " I see you care a great deal for him," she murmured. 

" Be assured, that if you don't surrender Mara Jade over, then she will die as well," Vader said gravely, he was baiting her, they both knew. Vader wanted to see how far a mother would go to protect her own children.

The woman took a couple of steps back, and put Mara down, she whispered something into her ear and took her lightsabre out. " I'd rather fight to the death than let her become another one of the Palpatine's little pawns."

" Than I suppose you'll have to die, Jedi," the woman whirled around, as did Luke, to see that it was the Emperor, riding on a transport. 

" Run Mara! Go!" the mother exclaimed, Mara ran, but did not get too far as she tripped over a branch. That was when the Emperor held his hands up and blue lighting crackled out of his finger tips and struck the woman. She screamed and writhed as the electricity coursed through her body. Burning her to a burnt crisp. Luke almost retched-he did retch! And the girl, Mara was crying and screaming, that was when Storm Troopers came and took her into the transport. Luke stared at the body, his lips matched the paleness to his face.

That was when the Emperor spoke, " well done, Lord Vader, another triumph for the Empire." 

" Yes, my master."

The Emperor stared down at Luke and laughed, " and perhaps someday, you'll go on missions for me, like your father, young Skywalker."

Luke nodded, but said nothing. He only swallowed and held back another urge to retch. As soon as the transport was gone, Luke started crying, Vader took Luke back into his arms and turned his head away from the burnt sight. 

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" And that was how you came into the Emperor's service," Luke said, coming out of dreamland, of course, he had to edit some of the father/son parts, but all of which he had told her were true.

Mara was silent for a moment as she tried to remember her parents, but nothing came to mind. It made her angry that someone else, who wasn't even related to her parents, remembered something about them when she could recall not even a wisp of a memory. 

" My parents... I knew the Empire had killed them, but I didn't know so cruelly," Mara said, she took a seat on a nearby chair. " I... can't believe they would die so horribly."

Luke didn't say anything as he glanced back over towards the Senator's apartment. " I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you. If the Emperor or my father finds out that I've told you, then... well, I'll be in a lot of trouble."

Mara pursed her lips and stood up, " it doesn't matter now. At least I know a little bit about the truth. Thank you... Luke. I won't tell anyone."

Luke nodded but said nothing, there no was no need for words at the moment. That memory of the burnt body still stuck in his mind, Luke shivered, and that stench, he could still remember it.

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When the lights turned out, the duo headed up to the roof of their apartment building with their equipment. 

" So we'll do this burglar style?" Luke asked.

Mara nodded, " take the belongings and make it look like the family were there at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Luke smirked, " well, what would a burglar take from a Senator? The holoproj, the jewellery and anything else that's worth some value."

" Quite right," Mara said, " and I think we should enter through the balcony, drop down from the roof and get in. We'll also make it look like there was a struggle."

" We'll have to rob a couple of other places to make it look like we didn't pick Tirral right out of the pot," Luke said with a sigh. " And I'd like to this quick so how about the ones that are empty?"

Mara nodded, she turned away from Tirral's building to face Luke and smiled. " They're sleeping."

" Good," Luke said, getting up, " let's get going then." He clipped his utility belt on and pulled a helmet over his face, a helmet with a black visor so no one could see his face. Strapping a couple of other equipment on, Luke was ready. He tried to carry all that he could that would help him out, but tried to keep it light. Mara on the other hand carried basically nothing except for her wrist blaster, an even larger blaster hanging off her belt, a couple of daggers and some knives. She was dressed in a black jump suit that had one of those hoods and a mask that covered only half of her face, her mouth and nose. She looked something like a ninja. 

" Ready?" Luke asked, his helmet filtered his voice, making it sound mechanized and deeper.

" When you are," Mara replied, her voice was rather muffled behind that mask. 

Luke held up a grappler and searched for a sturdy enough anchor, finding it in a metallic vent. With a steady hand, he shot the grappler, it shot across from the roof to the other one and clung onto the vent, magnetized, it made a good hold. Luke on the other side, tied the end to a pole and hooked his clasp from his belt onto the string, fastening the thing, he nodded over at Mara. Who came up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Luke leaned against the building's ledge and without hesitation, he jumped off. Using gravity on his side, the two slid to the other building in no time. 

Unbuckling the clasp, he and Mara reached the edge of the room, glancing down. Tirral's balcony was only three stories down. They needed to hit that place first before they actually started robbing other apartments. Mara tied the rope to the same vent that Luke had used, she dropped the rope down the side of the building. She began climbing down, making sure that they stayed away from any windows that would give them away. After all, not everyone was asleep. 

The climb wasn't long and they reached Tirral's balcony in time. Now they needed to work on the alarms. No problem, Luke had acquired the security codes from the company the alarms derived from. He punched the codes into the pad and waited, the soon, the blinking light that showed that the alarms were on, shut off. He did a thumbs up sign towards Mara.

__

( Everything's set, )he thought.

( We just have to make enough noise to get them to get out of their rooms to investigate, ) Mara thought back. 

Luke smirked, ( I've got an idea. )

( What? )

Without answering, Luke threw his body against the glass door, head first, using his helmet as the ram. It certainly did make a noise, the glass rained onto the ground. Luke caught himself before falling to the ground onto the glass shards. He did a somersault in the air and landed on his feet. Mara followed him with this look of annoyance in her eyes.

( That's your idea? ) 

Luke chuckled and began searching the apartment, taking the statues and trinkets that were worth value from their spots. Mara held a sack and followed him as he tossed the things into it. 

Finally, they heard the sound of a door creaking open. A man dressed in flannel robe, came out, holding what looked to be some sort of little blaster, he was followed behind by a woman, presumably his wife.

( So he's not entirely armless, ) Mara thought sardonically, dropping the sack.

Tirral stepped into the living room, cursed when he saw the two dark intruders. He brought his blaster up-Luke flew towards him-Mara pulled the blaster from her wrist. Luke did a karate chop onto Tirral's hand, he dropped the blaster and that was when Mara fired. The woman opened her mouth to scream, but Luke was already at her before Tirral even dropped to the ground. He brought his arm around her neck and snapped it. She dropped onto the ground after her husband. 

( That's it, ) Luke thought, he stood there, staring at the two bodies, long ago, he would have felt regret, remorse at what he'd just done, but he'd been a killer since he was eight years old and such things he got used to. One couldn't afford such feelings in his line of work. 

( You just gonna stand there? ) 

Luke turned away from the bodies and faced Mara. ( Let's go, we have other apartments to rob. ) 

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**A woman stood on the rooftop of the complex Luke and Mara had previously been on. She was dressed in dark robes that billowed around her body as the wind played with both her long brown hair and her clothes. She watched as the two assassins went from apartment to apartment, looting the places of their goods before the two actually left, not taking any notice of their secret observer. Her blue eyes focused on the boy and when they were gone, she finally turned and went back to the hatchway, her lightsabre slapping against her thigh.**

End Part Three.

Part Four: A Step Into Adulthood

Apparently, Luke and Mara were to meet many, many times after. They were very close friends, from two assassins who wanted to kill each other to best friends. It was an almost unlikely combination, but it had happened. 

Their relationship had become so strong that Luke had been able to trust her enough to tell her about his true parentage. Mara took it well, she wasn't at all surprised, she had suspected it for a long while now. They talked to each other, hung out as much as they could. Vader disapproved of it, but the Emperor loved it, so he didn't speak of it.

Luke and Mara actually worked out together, sometimes duelling, sometimes fighting. When it came to duelling, it was where Luke was the master, though on occasion, Mara would win. Fighting was an equal thing, though Mara sometimes suspected that he wasn't working at his maximum.

They also had many missions together, they were an unstoppable team. The two worked with such efficiency that even the Black Sun had noticed their fine work, after the two had murdered one of their vigos of course and didn't leave anything behind for them to find out who it was.

Nearing the summer, Luke was beginning to become excited. His graduation was coming, and he had somehow received Honour Roll, which was a shock to him and to everyone who knew him at the school. 

The only thing to mar his happy week was the new revelation of the relationship between Alléen and Kiro. The two were no longer just friends, but instead, a couple. Luke didn't mind, he was happy for them. But he did feel a little backstabbed. He sort of liked Alléen a little.

He would need a date for the Grad and prom. Luke didn't want to go alone, but he realized that he had to go. So the best thing to do was just ask some girl in the school. 

To his dismay, most of the girls already had a date. Luke sighed and decided that he would just have to go alone.

" Why the glum face?" Mara asked as she met up with him in the school hallway.

Luke was a bit startled to see her there, but decided not to comment on it. She did this before, many times before in the past.

" No date for the prom," Luke said with a smirk, " guess I'll be the only loser there. I don't really want to go, but the Emperor had expressed strongly when I started school that I should go."

" Then I'll go with you," Mara said, she smiled and took his arm.

Luke stared at her, this time, feeling a lot more than startled, " you sure...?" he asked.

Mara laughed, " Skywalker, you should consider yourself lucky. You're gonna be there with the most beautiful woman."

Luke grinned and started to laugh, " well... I guess I am... just get a nice dress."

Mara smirked, " you don't need to worry about that Skywalker."

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They had both agreed to meet each other at the Grad Dinner, since Mara had to do some things for the Emperor first. Luke arrived early and felt like a total dork because Mara was late. He would have expected her to do something like that. About an hour later, he was done with waiting. He went off and joined Alléen and Kiro at their table. 

" Alone, Luke?" Alléen said with a smile. She had to admit, Luke was looking his best tonight. 

" Looks like," Luke said, he was in a foul mood. " Well... at least after this, I won't have to worry about school anymore."

" What are you planning to do after this?" Kiro asked.

Luke shrugged, " something in the Empire, I suppose."

Alléen wrinkled her nose, " the Empire? What do you expect to be? Some sort of soldier?"

Kiro chuckled, " well, they _are_ looking for a couple of good fighters." 

Before Luke could say another thing, a red-headed woman plopped down in a chair across from him. She was dressed in a beautiful red dress and her hair was done up. She wore a diamond necklace that looked beautiful upon her bare neck.

" You're late," was all Luke had to say, despite of himself.

" Well, that's a nice greeting," Mara said dryly. She smiled at Alléen and Kiro, who were both staring at her.

" She's that girl-" Alléen said, but stopped.

" That Luke beat up?" Mara said with a laugh. " Yup, I'm her."

Kiro laughed as well, " can't believe you brought her with you of all people!"

Mara arched an eyebrow at Kiro, " you'd better watch it skinny boy."

Luke stared at Mara and realized that something was wrong. She looked distressed and impatient.

( What is it? ) he asked her.

Mara jumped and suddenly stared at him, ( oh, I forgot you could do that.)

( Mara, come on, I know something's wrong,) Luke said.

Mara nodded, ( there are a couple of terrorists surrounding the place, they're under the Hutt jurisdiction... but I think the Black Sun has a hand in this.)

Luke made a face, ( well, if that isn't just peachy.) 

( I brought your lightsabre and blaster, ) Mara said.

Luke smiled at her, ( well, aren't you the smart one? )

" Smart and beautiful," Mara said with a smile, breaking their thought-speak chain. " What more could you want?"

" How about committing?" Luke asked dryly. " You don't have to stay here if you want."

Mara laughed, " are you kidding me? And miss all the action?"

" Well than, give me my belongings and then you can stay," Luke said.

Mara nodded, she closed her eyes and levitated both lightsabre and blaster from her hands to his lap. Luke snatched the weapons out of thin air and tucked them under the folds of his tunic.

" Now just sit and wait," Mara said.

Grad dinner was halfway over before the doors to the facility banged shut. Luke and Mara glanced around and saw that the Black Sun had taken up their places. There were over thirty of them. Too many innocents and to much evidence for Luke and Mara to show off their true identity, so how in the world would they be able to beat them with such limitations?

By that time, Luke, Mara, Alléen and Kiro were on one side of the table. They got a good view of the place.

" All right," said one of the Black Sun men, he held a blaster in his hand. " This is a set up, so give us your money and all your belonging, or you could end up like that vase over there." He levelled his blaster and shot the vase. It exploded, the grad students cried out.

" Stupid idiots, do they think they could get away with this?" Luke muttered.

" No, the Black Sun is smarter than this, so what are they up to? There's another

motive," Mara whispered. 

Luke turned to face Alléen and Kiro, " when I count to three, get ready to duck, throw yourself onto the ground, okay?"

Alléen and Kiro both nodded.

" All right, one... two... three!" Mara suddenly kicked the table forward so that the surface side could be facing the front side of the room. And without hesitation, Luke, Mara, Alléen and Kiro both ducked to take shelter with the table. 

" Durasteel," Luke commented, knocking on the table, " always glad that the school was too cheap to buy real wood."

Luke turned to face his friends, " stay here, don't do anything."

" You there." cried the leader of the gang.

" Yeah?" Luke called back.

" Get over here now! You think you can win against all of us?"

" Yes," Luke muttered. He nodded at Mara and stood up, he had his hands up in the air. He called out, " Of course not."

He strolled over to them, there were about five of them gathered on one side while the rest were scattered everywhere. He glanced over at the doors, they were the heavy durasteel type so it would hard for any blaster to shoot through. But he bet a lightsabre could cut through.

Luke went up to them, trying to call forth ever scrap of acting talent he had. He needed to look scared, he wasn't as good an actor as Mara was. 

" Check him, see if he has any goods," said the leader.

One of the Black Sun's men went up to him, putting his blaster down. He began to check the boy.

( Mara, now! ) Luke thought. 

And suddenly a dish that had been resting on a table not too far away, jumped up from its spot and hurled itself at the man who was checking Luke. 

Busily distracted and surprised, Luke did not hesitate, he jumped up and did a high kick, knocking a man beside him down. He suddenly ducked low as his instincts began to flare. He abandoned himself to the Force and suddenly turned and uppercutted, catching a guy on the chin. Luke cried out whirled around, bringing his hand down in a karate chop, he struck a man wearing a black suit in the hand, knocking his blaster out. Luke did hesitate, he brought his left hand around and punched him squarely in the side of the head and then brought his hand down in another karate chop on his neck. He turned to see that the Black Sun Leader had fled, instead, there were five more on him. Five blaster bolts whizzed past him, barely missing him. Three of them hit three separate men. They fell to the ground, dead. Luke turned to see Mara standing up with her blaster in hand. She saluted at him and ducked back down. 

Luke decided that this was as good as any a time to use his own blaster. With lightning fast speed, he had his own blaster out and shot three of them men down before they began firing at him. Luke did a back flip in the air, landing in the other side of the room. 

He blasted five more down before having to duck behind a pillar next to one of the closed off hatches. He held his blaster close to him, sweat covering his face. He wouldn't be able to beat all of them like this. 

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( Father, ) Luke thought, ( father please, I need your help. )

He didn't take anymore time to think about his father. More blaster fire coming straight at him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a certain red head jump up from an up turned table. She unloaded ten shots from her blaster, only two missed. 

Distracted by the red-head, the Mercenaries turned to face her. Blasters pointed up at the assassin, but she was already back in cover, she kept them busy as Luke switched weapons. He took his lightsabre out, switching it on, Luke sliced open an exit. 

He suddenly turned and deflected a blaster bolt that would have blasted his head off. 

Luke turned and saw all of his other classmates there. They sat there, staring at him in awe, some cowering under tables. Luke gave them a glare, " get out of here now! What are you waiting for?"

" R-right," one of them said. Luke stood his place in front of the escaping hostages. He held his lightsabre up and deflected the blaster bolts aimed at them. Mara suddenly jumped out from her spot with her own lightsabre switched on. Her amethyst blade made slashing lines through the air as she cauterized the terrorists one by one. While Luke protected the escaping students and teachers. 

And before he knew it, all of the sealed doors blasted open and Storm Troopers rushed in, their blasters held up at the Black Sun people. There were just too many of them, and even the Black Sun knew when to give up. Luke sighed, switching off his lightsabre, he clipped it back onto his belt and joined Mara. Together, the two slipped out through an air vent. When they were out of the vents, Luke took Mara's hand and pulled her close to him, kissing her wildly and passionately. She resisted at first, but finally relented and found herself returning that affection. 

When they finished their kiss, Mara felt a bit flustered, " I'll see you around, Skywalker." She quickly turned and ran off. Luke glanced up at the sky, someone was watching him and it was not the stars. 

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The Emperor sat there on his throne as he watched the holotapes. Luke certainly had a skill, but he also had compassion. A trait his father didn't prove strongly in. Luke in a way, was very much like his mother. Compassion could be good if used correctly, but it was also very deadly. After all, young Skywalker's compassion to his father was what kept the boy in line, though he felt that Skywalker's loyalty to him was faltering. He would have to throw the boy a bone to keep him content for a little while longer... until his plan went into accordance.

He turned to face Xizor who was standing there, watching the tapes as well. The Falleen Prince straightened when he realized the Emperor's eyes were on him. His face was neutral and expressionless, though just because Xizor hid his feelings behind a mask fairly well, didn't mean that he could hide it from the Force. The Emperor smiled, Xizor had a strong hatred for any Skywalker. 

" So things have gone as planned," the Emperor commented, taking his eyes off Xizor and turning back to holotapes. 

" Its been confirmed that it was the Hutts that were behind it. There was no evidence of the Empire's or the Black Sun's involvement found," Xizor informed him, his face expressionless, but the Emperor didn't need expression. He had the Force.

" Vader had intervened," the Emperor commented, he knew that would have happened. He had decided not to tell the Dark Lord his plan for many reasons. Right now, he was beginning to doubt Vader's loyalty towards him as well. Perhaps Vader should be done away with once and for all. The Dark Lord was powerful, but the son was even powerful still. 

" I'm pretty sure that Skywalker would have been able to handle the situation," said Xizor, he allowed a small smile appear on his face. " It is no doubt he has skill. One would expect such a thing from the son of Vader. But who, might I ask, is that red-head?" 

The Emperor gave Xizor an amused smile, " so your spies can't get every bit of information, can they, Prince Xizor? Ah yes, her name is Mara Jade, a very good dancer."

" Apparently more than a dancer," Xizor commented with just the slightest hint of sarcasm in his voice. " And yes, Your Majesty, I could find no information on her, just that she was a dancer for your courts. And I'm not even sure if Jade is her real name. I've found no sources of such names."

" Oh it's her real name," the Emperor assured him, " Perhaps someday, I'll arrange for her to dance for you."

Xizor smiled courteously, " I think I'd be delighted to watch such a wonderful woman dance."

Perhaps it was something in those words that Xizor had said that the Emperor did not like, " be warned Xizor, you are not to meddle in Mara Jade's or Skywalker's affairs. They are my concern alone."

Xizor bowed, " of course my master. Its been a pleasure meeting with you." He turned and left.

The Emperor stared after him for a moment, he knew quite well of Xizor's treachery and betrayal. But he did not mind, it was amusing watching Xizor and Vader going claw to claw with each other. Adding Skywalker and Mara Jade to the element would be even more amusing. He smiled, neither Skywalker nor Jade will find out who was really behind the whole hostage situation. After Xizor departed, the Emperor summoned one of his aides, telling him to send a message to Skywalker. The brat son of Vader would get his bone.

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After Luke got home, he stripped off his formal clothes and changed into something more or less comfortable. He was as tired as a slave serving Jabba's court. He climbed into bed and didn't bother to pull the covers over him. He closed his eyes and was just about to drift into dreamland when once again, the comm beeped. Luke growled and buried his face under the pillow, it was the Emperor, who else would call him this late? Climbing out of his bed, Luke answered the call. It was a recording of the Emperor's personal aide, calling him to see the Emperor in the morning. 

" I got out of bed for a recording?" Luke mumbled out loud. He was just about ready to throw that comm out the window. He turned the recording off and jumped into bed, glad to finally get some sleep. He was very irritated at how his luck was going. First that attack on his grad, which Luke was sure was set up by the Black Sun. Someday, when he had the chance, maybe when Vader was Emperor, he would kill Prince Xizor... or better yet, capture the Falleen Prince and let his father have the pleasure in killing the Black Sun Underlord. That was still way off into the future, Luke had things to focus on the present. Especially his relationship with Mara Jade. He felt strange, warm and complete, emotions he'd never experianced before. Though he had a couple of girlfriends in the past. none of them were like Mara. 

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Leia paced nervously on board the Tantive IV as the world Toprawa crawled into view from one of the viewports she was staring out of. She stood on the bridge of her Consular ship, waiting. It seemed that was all she'd been doing for the last couple of weeks, waiting for something, what it was, she didn't know, but it was something big. She could feel the coming of something that was going to devastate her terribly. She pursed her lips and pushed back her doubtful thoughts. 

She was a Jedi now, and not only that, but a powerful Senator of the Empire, though she hated playing political games with an unfair government. The Imperial Senate had no real power at all, it was just there to please the public. Eventually, it would be gone and she would have no power left to influence the Empire. 

Well, maybe not from within, but she could certainly do something about the Empire from without. She shivered and remembered what lord Tion had told her about the Empire's new weapon, the Death Star. She was not going to let something as dangerous as that be released into the galaxy, even if she had to risk her own life for it too.

Leia found that she was tapping her foot against the floor, immediately she stopped and placed her hand on the comforting weight of the lightsabre that dangled from her belt. It was her father's lightsabre, given to her by her teacher, Obi-Wan. Perhaps someday, she could confront her family, for now, she had to work secretively. She held her chin up and reminded herself not to be nervous, nothing was going to go wrong.

" Princess!" a rather distraught Captain Antilles called from his station. 

Leia turned to face him, the hem of her white robe swishing against the ground, " yes Captain?" her tone was confident and full of regal standing, yet her feelings made a turn. She could sense something very wrong coming from Antilles, he was afraid. Yet she was a Princess and a leader must almost be strong.

" Sensors show an Imperial Star Destroyer heading for us from port side," Antilles replied.

Strangely enough, Leia didn't feel surprised or afraid, she knew this was going to happen. When she took this mission, she'd accepted all of the risks. " All right then, how long do we have until they're in firing range?"

" Ten minutes, but-"

" Ten minutes will be enough, Captain," Leia snapped, " for now, we get these plans. We still have a chance if we have time, so we must hurry."

Antilles' eyes widened at Leia's bravado, impressed by her lack of fear, he nodded and quickly turned to give orders. Leia's heart pounded, this was now really a race against time. 

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Waking up early in the morning was a natural habit of Luke's, after all, school made him wake up early and so did his father when training was to be done. He was dressed in black clothes, his usual tunic and pants with the combat boots. Having the Emperor call him so many times this year to see him personally was something new. Maybe it had something to do with the Death Star, he didn't know. 

Luke strolled down the busy streets of Imperial Centre, even at this time of day, the streets would always be full of life. He stopped once more and frowned, he felt something, the same observer who'd been watching him for days. His anger flared, the very thought of someone spying on him sent flames of anger bursting inside of him. He quickly calmed himself down, reminding himself that this was not the time or the place for a confrontation. He quickly veered from his course of direction and ran into an alley. He continued on strolling towards the direction of the Imperial Palace, that sense was still there and nagging him. He quickly whirled around, he saw no one. Maybe he was just going crazy, he turned again and continued on walking. This time, he was sure he heard footsteps. He stopped, the footsteps stopped.

" Who's there?" Luke shouted, he glanced around him. " I know you're following me so show yourself."

Luke saw no one. 

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Frustrated and angered, Luke walked into the Throne Room. He saw the Emperor sitting on his Throne, though unlike those other times, the Emperor was watching him. And his father standing beside the Emperor. Luke fought the urge to frown, unlike his father whose face was always masked, his own visage was very clear. What was his father doing here? He couldn't remember doing anything, except maybe for that little hostage situation... perhaps that was it.

Luke kneeled before the Emperor and stared at the ground. " Master," he said, lowering his head as a sign of respect.

" As you may already know, young Skywalker, the Death Star has finished construction and soon the Imperial Senate will be no more. This is a glorious triumph for the Empire against the Rebellion, though this victory is not yet complete," the Emperor, he leaned forward on his throne, grinning down at Vader's son. " Our last triumph will be the rising of a new Sith Lord."

Luke's head shot up in excited anticipation, his entire being thrilled as he realized what was going to happen. He fought the urge to get up and jump for joy.

He tapped his finger on his armrest and smiled, " yes... I have been made aware of a situation over at Toprawa. Apparently, something has come up about the stolen Death Star plans." The Emperor pointed a bony finger at Luke, " you will go in my place and personally take care of the situation. Lord Skywalker, you will make yourself known to galaxy."

Luke's eyes darted over towards his father and then back over towards the Emperor. He lowered his head again, " I will not fail you, Master," he said with true sincerity, " I will take of the Rebel pests." 

" You may leave," the Emperor said, waving Luke away. He watched as the boy quickly made his departure. Now the boy was tied even tighter into his leashes. He laughed, not caring for the fact that Vader was there, watching him with contempt. Had the Dark Lord enough courage, he would have destroyed the Emperor right then and there. 

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Luke got ready for his long trip, taking all of the necessary items that he needed. He was a Sith Lord now, but he didn't feel different yet, everything was changed. He slung his bag over his shoulder and tested the weight before heading towards the door. He was intercepted by Vader on his way down the hall, the two stopped and stared at each other. Luke could feel Vader's pride and love pouring out of his father and Vader could feel Luke returning his affection and respect. 

" You'll succeed on your mission, my son," Vader said, " don't doubt it."

" Thank you father," Luke said, he smiled and continued walking. No other words were needed. The bond between father and son was strong. Far stronger then the Emperor had believed it was, no matter what the Emperor gave to Luke, he would not turn the boy's loyalties. 

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Luke's ascension to Sith Lord was still not well known. The Emperor hadn't even announced it yet. Though the Emperor did have his information changed so that way if people checked, they would know right away that Luke had a high place in the Empire and that he was to be obeyed beyond doubt. Luke had command of an Imperial Star Destroyer called the Phantasm, it felt strange to be the one giving the orders instead of obeying them. His first official command was for his shuttle to be readied. As he approached the landing pad, he stopped and saw a red head standing at the base of the ramp waiting for him.

He slowed his pace and was by her side. " Mara..." he murmured, taking her hand. Their relationship had grown somewhat closer then they would have liked. It was strange but it felt right. He found his feelings of affection towards her changing, just like his life was changing. He was glad that his kiss from before didn't scare her off.

" I heard," she said, " about your step up." She averted her eyes towards the ground, looking beyond him. " I also heard about your mission to get those stolen plans. I wish I could help you or come with you, but my duty is here with the Emperor."

Luke took her face and held it in his hands, she was beautiful, could it be possible that he could love her? He'd never heard of there being love in the darkside before, but then again, he wasn't really part of the darkside, as his father had pointed out to him time and time again. Luke drew his powers from the Force, not really aware that he took from both the light and the dark. Maybe standing on that thin line away from light would enable him to love someone... to love someone like Mara. 

Yet he knew that their love would be impossible. Her duty was to the Emperor. Luke knew what that meant; he caressed her cheek. A weak smile appeared on her face, " isn't there anything I can do to change your mind?" he asked softly. 

" I wish I had your strength," Mara murmured, burying her face into his chest, " I wish I could abandon my loyalties easily, but I have my pride and my honour. My allegiance is to the Emperor."

" I'll come back," he reassured her, he tilted her chin up to his face and kissed her softly, when they're lips parted, he held her close to him, " and when I do, I'll change your mind."

" Maybe," Mara replied, pushing away from him, she wasn't used to this. She didn't like being so close to someone. She couldn't love Luke because she had to serve the Emperor. Her mind was in control of her body, not her heart. No matter how much she wanted him, she was not going to have him. " Good-bye, Skywalker."

" Good-Bye, Mara," Luke said, he turned away from her and climbed the ramp. It closed behind him, Mara watched as the shuttle shot for space. 

End Part Four.

Part Five: Twins of Fate

Leia sat in her private quarters, staring at the two droids, Artoo-Detoo and Threepio. They were at the other corner of the room, busying themselves by arguing with one and other. She felt exhausted, it'd been a couple of weeks since they'd lost those Imperials in Toprawa by making a quick jump into hyperspace. 

Now they were en route to Tatooine, once again, Leia needed to see her old teacher again and enlist his aid. This was going to be a mission she could not accomplish on her own. 

The intercom beeped, Leia got up and answered it. " Yes Captain?" she asked.

" We're approaching Tatooine, now, Your Highness, I suggest you get ready for the jump out of hyperspace," Antilles said.

Leia pursed her lips, something was nudging her... " hold on," she said, " I'm going to be on the bridge for this."

There was a slight pause before the captain answered, " of course Princess, if that's what you wish."

" It's what I want," Leia retorted, she switched off the comm and motioned for the two droids to follow her. 

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The Phantasm stood in Tatooine space, waiting for the Rebel Blockade Runner. His father always told him to follow his instincts because they were always right. And here they were, waiting for the traitors to come. He was getting impatient and was starting to doubt his own powers. When he was about ready to concede defeat, a ship jumped out of hyper space not too far from them. Obviously, if Luke and the crew spotted the ship this soon, that meant the people on board that transport saw them too. 

" Ready the tractor beam!" Luke ordered, " we'll have to make this an old fashion chase." He said, turning to face one of the officers, after spending a couple of weeks on Phantasm, he made it very clear that his ability to command and his ability to use to Force was not to be doubted. 

The officers, fearing a fate not so different from what Darth Vader would have inflicted, obeyed at once. Reaching out with his mind, Luke touched the minds of the people on board the Rebel ship. He was impressed by the perseverance of the crew, their lack of fear and total control of the situation was very different from the crew of this Star Destroyer. He began studying each mind of the crew, but something or maybe someone, on board that ship, attracted Luke's attention. It was so familiar yet so strange to him, the power of the Force, he realized. Someone on board that ship could use the Force, he forced himself deeper inside the mind of that person, but was quickly driven back. Whoever this person was fairly commendable in the Force. 

Immediately, it dawned on Luke what type of person this was. His father told him about them, the Emperor ridiculed them. They were the dangerous ones, the people who threatened the very heart of the Empire and brought fear into his masters. 

His lips pulled back in disgust, " Jedi," he snarled.

Though as repulsed as he was at that moment, inwardly he thrilled to the core. This was his chance to actually hunt down and destroy a Jedi Knight. He hoped desperately that this Jedi Knight was at least a formidable opponent, one who could give him a challenge. Luke so did love to face a challenge.

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Laser fire erupted in the vacuum surrounding the Tantive IV. Leia nearly fell as a blast rocked the ship. She caught herself and regained her composure, she was once again on the bridge, watching Tatooine as the desert world grew larger and larger on screen. Though her attention went from the viewport to the scanners from time to time. The Star Destroyer was getting closer, she had the feeling they weren't going to make it on time. She closed her eyes, things would have to be done quickly before the Imperials captured them.

Suddenly the ship shook more violently this time, Leia caught onto the edge of a bulkhead near her before falling. When she straightened she glanced over towards Antilles, " what just happened?" she demanded.

" The Star Destroyer has just locked onto us with their tractor beam," Antilles replied, his eyes widening, " we need to get you safely off this ship, Princess."

" Don't worry about me," Leia snapped, " I can take care of myself. It's the plans that I'm worried about, we need to deliver them to Kenobi. He'll get them to Alderaan."

" Transferring data on the Death Star plans now," one of the information officers reported. The officer got up from her station and handed Leia a couple of tapes. " They're all in there, Your Highness."

Leia nodded, " thank you. Erase any evidence that might incriminate us," she ordered, " the Imperials can't arrest us if we have nothing."

" Yes, Princess," the officer bowed. 

" We're being boarded," one of the officers from sensors shouted, glancing over towards Leia for directions.

" Captain, you have the ship, I'll take care of the plans," Leia said, nodding over towards Antilles as she headed for the bridge doors.

" Please be careful Princess," Antilles called after her. 

Leia stopped, she didn't like this, leaving this many people behind and not being able to help them. She pursed her lips and gave him a salute, " you too, Captain... and may the Force be with you."

She quickly left the bridge, followed by the droids. They rushed down the corridors, looking for a suitable hiding place while the Imperials searched the ship. Finally, they stopped in the lower decks of the room, where to corridors intersected each other, forming a perfect place for cover. With one hand, she had her blaster, she kneeled and placed her lightsabre on her lap. She motioned for Artoo, the droid beeped and rolled up to her. Artoo, as far as she knew and was pretty sure about it, was once the astromech droid of that boy she'd met in the Imperial Palace's playroom. She'd found Artoo in a junkyard one time on Tatooine when she'd been look for spare part for constructing her lightsabre. Always wanting a droid of her own, she quickly took Artoo and then bought herself a Protocol droid.

" Artoo, I need your help," she said softly as she ran a hand over his domed head. " The mission I'm about to give you will be a perilous one. But I'm sure you'll be able to succeed, you must protect these plans." She inserted the tape inside Artoo and was just about to start a recording when a panel just above her head exploded from a laser blast. She jerked and rolled off to a small recess for cover though along the way, she'd dropped her lightsabre onto the floor. 

Using the Force, she pushed Artoo away further down the hall. She then reached out with the Force and pushed Threepio away as well. Her blaster still in hand, she peeked over the corner and saw three Storm Troopers, just waiting for her to do that. They quickly began firing on her, Leia jumped back again and realized blaster was no good for this situation. She reached out a hand and called for her Jedi weapon. Without hesitation, she switched it on, a blue blade jumping out of the hilt. 

Calming herself, she called upon all of the Force strength she could muster and jumped into the open. Storm Troopers quickly fired at her, though rather startled by her new weapon, their aim became askew. The shots that almost got her were deflected back. One of the deflected bolts jumped off her sword and lanced one of the Storm Troopers right in the chest, knocking him down. The two Storm Troopers were slightly distracted and spared a second to glance down at their fallen comrade. Leia took advantage of the second, mustering her Jedi speed, she leapt into the air and somersaulted over the Storm Troopers, her robes flapping as she landed. She gritted her teeth and wished she were wearing her combat outfit instead. Though this was hardly the time for wishing, she dove towards the Storm Troopers and drove her lightsabre down one of the Storm Trooper's arms. The other turned around and tried to fire, Leia bisected his blaster in half. While the other Storm Trooper was screaming pain, Leia rammed the hilt of her lightsabre into the head of the soldier with the broken blaster, knocking him out. She the administered the same performance onto the one armed Storm Trooper. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that Artoo and Threepio were more or less running towards her. At least they were damaged she mused, switching off her lightsabre and scooping up a blaster that belonged to one of the fallen Storm Troopers. 

As she crept through corridors of the Tantive, Leia made sure to reach out with the Force to check and see if anyone was there. She had her Force bubble expanding to get a sense of the areas around her. How was she to get out of here? Maybe she could take an escape pod, but she would be vulnerable, especially since the Star Destroyers had scanners. Maybe she could sneak on board the Star Destroyer and take one of their shuttles. Yes, a shuttle would be best, it was more maneurable and had a weapon's system. With Artoo by her side, she wouldn't have to worry so much about her skills in operating it. Getting to the shuttle wouldn't be that hard, she was a Jedi and she could do about anything.

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Leia had been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she'd barely noticed the intruding presence. Her head came up in surprise, it was a resonating power that was so faint that she couldn't find it. Yet it was there, she stopped and glanced around her, she was now in an even lower part of the Tantive where there wasn't a person in sight. She frowned and continued on walking, though inwardly, she searched the area for that presence. There it was again, this time, stronger and closer. It was very distinctive, it wasn't like Vader's or the Emperor's sense, it was someone else's. Someone very familiar to her, this presence in the Force wasn't entirely dark, nor was it entirely light. It drew power from both sides, but was leaning closer to the darkside. She quickly whipped out her lightsabre and whirled around, letting the Force control her, she brought the blade up, stopping another brilliant red blade from crashing down onto her skull. She strained, her arms shaking and trembling as she tried to hold her stance. She drew from the Force, using it to give her power. Finally not able to take it anymore, she drew up all of her strength and pushed the blade away. The person holding the other weapon stumbled back but regained his composure. 

Leia was now able to see him fully, dressed in black clothes and holding a red lightsabre, she knew who he was. A shadow agent of the Empire, no one knew him except those of elite Imperials. Yet Leia knew him because she'd been told of him, the son of Darth Vader and another servant to Palpatine. There was a smirk on his face as he went into a fighting stance. Leia recalled her training in the Force and went into a defensive posture. 

" Princess Leia I presume?" he asked, his lightsabre casting eerie shadows on his face, he wasn't as menacing as Darth Vader, but just as lethal. 

Leia held her chin up, " you presume correctly," she replied, " and may I presume that you are Luke Skywalker?"

The smug look on the boy's face disappeared, immediately, he caught himself and stood up straight. " You Jedi are more insightful then I made you out to be."

" We are more then just insightful," Leia retorted. She barely finished the sentence before she had to bring her lightsabre to block a startling blow from Luke who took the chance to strike out. She found herself moving back from Skywalker's attacks, she pursed her lips reminding herself that she had to be defensive, not offensive. It was not the Jedi way. 

Skywalker immediately dove in at her, pointing his lightsabre forward. Leia cried out and brought her blade in a spinning arc in front of her, catching Skywalker's blade and nearly hooking it out of his hand. Skywalker backed off. He grinned, apparently this was just a game for him. This made Leia shiver, how powerful was this boy? 

" A challenge," he muttered and attacked once more. He leapt for her, bringing his lightsabre down onto her, or at least where she'd once been. Leia side-stepped him and brought her lightsabre down onto his blade, driving it into the floor. Luke jerked and pulled his lightsabre back, bringing it around with him in a horizontal arc that would have bisected Leia in half if she'd not reacted first, bringing her lightsabre up. The Force guided her hands, Skywalker used his own aggression. 

Their lightsabres locked once more, their blades squealing in protest at the illicit contact. Leia grunted, trying to hold her stance, Luke drove her blade downward towards the ground, such strain twisted her wrist into an awkward posture. Though she didn't try to turn her wrist back around, if she did, then she'd lose her grip and Skywalker would have her. Yet if she let go and let the Force take control of her, then she might have been able to destroy Skywalker. That was something she did not wish to do.

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The Princess eventually jumped back pulling her blade back with her, breaking their hold. Luke pivoted on one foot and followed her jump, bringing his lightsabre down onto her blade once more, forcing her back. Luke twisted his lips back into a grin, was this how his father felt when he fought other Jedi? He wished this Princess would be more of a challenge. 

He drove his blade forward once more, the Princess jerked and swung her lightsabre around, batting his weapon away. Usually, Luke would have gone into another stance and had done a different attack, though this time, he brought his lightsabre back and drove her blade back. Their lightsabres locked, though Luke didn't hold it, he twisted his wrists, rolling his lightsabre in an arc with him. And even before he was able to make a full arc, he hooked the Princess' lightsabre out of her hands. It clattered to the ground, Organa gasped and backed away, backing right up to a wall. She glanced desperately over towards the lightsabre again and reached out with the Force, calling it towards her. Though Luke was privy to her actions and caught the blade in the Force. It was now an apparent tug-of-war between the two Force users, which Luke eventually won out by dropping onto the ground, one hand as the balance point and performing a footsweep, which dropped Leia onto the floor. She immediately forgot about the lightsabre, Luke called it to him and clipped it onto his belt. He turned his attention back to the Princess and pointed his blade at her throat. The Princess closed her eyes, ready to die. She swallowed and opened them again, staring at him. Her brown eyes locking onto his. Luke stared into them and remembered the Princess in the playroom.

He arms shook, he kept the blade pointed at her throat, yet he was not able to drive it down. Why...? He thought, why couldn't he kill her. He searched his soul for the answers but couldn't find them. This girl she had such a familiar presence. 

*I can't kill her,* Luke realized. He brought his blade back, the Princess blinked and stared at him, cautiously she got up. An explosion nearby caught Luke's attention. He momentarily glanced back at it and realized his fatal mistake. When his attention was back towards the Princess, she had a blaster pointed at him. She fired, Luke went down, dropping his lightsabre, the last thing he could hear was the sound of the weapon clattering onto the floor.

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Leia stood over the fallen body of Luke Skywalker, her blaster which had been on stun, in her arms, she breathed heavily. The Force was on her side, she realized as she stared down at him. She was able to pull out of this one alive, though at one point, she could have died. Skywalker could have killed her, but didn't. Could that mean... there was a chance of turning him back. She bent down and caressed his cheek, he looked so innocent when he was sleeping. One could hardly have known that he was the son of Vader. Hooking her blaster onto her belt and taking her lightsabre back from Skywalker, she grunted as she flung Skywalker over her shoulders. He was heavy and she nearly toppled over his weight. Using the Force, she called Skywalker's lightsabre to her hand and began travelling down the corridor, followed by the droids. 

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When Luke awoke, he found himself chained and tied up to a chair. He tried to struggle and get free, but found his arms wouldn't obey, did these people drug him or something? He realized that it was the side effects from that stun bolt. Every part of his body felt numb and he couldn't control their actions. He worked his mouth, trying to get moisture back into it. Where was he and why was it so incredibly hot? He glanced around him and saw that he was inside some sort of hut which was cluttered with junk. A glance out of the window told him that he was no longer on the Tantive IV, or even on the Phantasm. Instead, he was on some sort desert planet. Well at least he knew why it was so hot. 

" Well finally you wake up," said a feminine voice to his right. Luke tried to glance over towards the source, but found it hard to keep his gaze in that direction. Though he was able to look over at her once to know who she was. It was the Princess, immediately, Luke remembered what had happened and felt his anger bubbling inside of him. A moment of weakness landed him here, stunned and tied to a chair which he could have easily escaped if he could just control his actions. 

He struggled again, more out of rage then out of attempted escape. A hand touched his shoulder, he jerked back and glanced up, seeing an old man with a beard on his face glancing right back down at him. Luke flinched under his gaze. 

" Easy my young friend, you'll tire yourself out that way," he said gently. 

Luke managed to glare at him, he moved his mouth, using the Force to help him form words, " I'm not your friend!"

" Perhaps not, but neither is the Emperor yet you trust him," the old man said as he pulled a chair and sat down across from him. Leia took a seat beside the old man, neither of them seemed to be affected by the boiling heat. 

" You're a Jedi too," Luke realized, staring at the old man, he must have been the one teaching the Princess how to use the Force. 

The old man nodded, " people call me Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Luke growled and struggled again, Obi-Wan he knew, it was the name his father damned to underworld over and over again. This Jedi Knight had been the one who'd cursed his father in eternal imprisonment in that mechanical suit. Wouldn't his father just love it if he'd been able to kill Kenobi for him? He struggled again but it was futile, eventually, he gave up.

" You've heard of me," Kenobi mused. 

" You're the one that made my father the way he is," Luke snapped. " If I were free of these bonds then I'd kill you right where you stand."

" Then why not use the Force?" Kenobi asked. " You have it."

Luke blinked, his anger dissipated, the Force, how could he have forgotten about it? Luke reached for that energy and found it blocked. He struggled again, his father had told him that sometimes the Force was unattainable if one's mind was too distracted. Was this the case? He worried about his inability to move and his anger towards Obi-Wan and towards the Princess. He calmed himself and stretched out to the Force, but found himself too tired to do anything about it. Finally, he gave up, he would have liked to kill Kenobi with his own two hands anyway and not just through the Force.

" You Jedi are cowards, no wonder you died off so quickly," he snapped as he tried his bonds again. Well maybe he could use the Force to cut them. He glanced around the hut for something to cut them with.

" Your father was once a Jedi Knight," Leia pointed out.

This immediately got Luke riled up again, " my father was smart enough to see how weak the Jedi were."

" It wasn't the Jedi that were weak, it was your father," Leia said softly. 

Luke's eyes flared with anger, " my father is the strongest man in the galaxy." He snapped. " Don't you dare talk about him that way."

Leia grew quiet and averted her eyes from Luke's unnerving gaze. That was when Kenobi spoke up. " Arguing will not make a situation any better. Do you have any questions you'd like to be answered, Luke?"

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The son of Vader was silent, surprised at how calmly these two Jedi took his anger. This was a different reaction, usually, others would get annoyed or angered. They were just... Luke stared at them, trying to read their emotions. Disappointed? Yes, but there was something else. Luke quickly picked it up, they were pitying him, he realized. They felt pity for him! Luke Skywalker, of all the stinking... Luke didn't let that train of thought continue. Instead, he focused on the present. As much as he hated it, he still had questions and they were the only ones that could supply it. 

" Well, for starters, how about telling me where I am," Luke demanded.

" Tatooine, we're in my hut located in the Western Dune Sea," Kenobi replied. " This was once your home you know."

Luke stared at Kenobi, trying to make the man flinch, but to no avail. Finally he relented, " I know," he replied, " though I don't remember this place nor did I realize that it was so damn hot."

Kenobi gave Luke an amused smile, " any other questions?"

" How did I end up here?" Luke asked, " how in the world did that pitiful little Princess over there bypass Imperial security?"

" Ah, yes, a Jedi Knight can be a master of illusion if he wants to be unknown," Kenobi said smiling he glanced over at Leia who only smiled back. " There are ways of getting past people without having them know you're there."

Luke snorted and glanced the other way, not wanting to look at them. Good riddance that his father got rid of most of the Jedi Knight. If they were all like that then no wonder, if his father hadn't done it, then Luke would have done it himself with no urging from the Emperor. Too bad Vader missed a couple, he glanced back over towards the two Jedi and noticed that they were watching him carefully, seeing his reaction he realized. He tensed his muscles, at least the stun effects were wearing off now. He could just break free from these bonds, maybe kill a couple of Jedi and then get out of there. He wondered if his father knew about his disappearance. 

" We're not trying to be your enemy, Luke. We want to be your friends, your allies," Leia said, spreading her hands. " The Empire has deluded you, they've taken you when you were so young that you haven't even realized how corrupt it is."

Luke grew quiet, he fidgeted and finally glanced over towards her, " perhaps it is corrupt. I'm not going to get out of my way to defend the Emperor, but the Empire has been what I've known for my entire life. The Empire is glorious and beautiful and it has benefits that the Old Republic couldn't offer."

Leia sighed, a pawn of the Empire, that was what Luke had become. He believed that the Empire was all glorious, that nothing was wrong with it. They'd taken him when he was so young. It seemed impossible to break him away from the Empire and let him see the misery that it caused.

" You don't care about the massacres?" Leia asked, she studied his face and noticed the agitation that crossed his face before it became neutral.

" If people just followed the Imperial code then they wouldn't be punished," Luke replied, " you can't expect the Emperor to let transgressions go unpunished. Perhaps that was why the Old Republic fell, because it was weak and wasn't strong enough to hold things together. The old Senate lax, they didn't care what the people of the galaxy did, good or bad."

He struggled again, but it was too soon, he could feel his strength returning, but it was still hard to control his motor functions. He glanced up and saw the expressions of disappointment on their faces. Finally Kenobi stood up, " whether Luke wishes to join us or not is his decision. For now, I must go to Mos Eisley and book us a freighter to Alderaan."

" Of course, Obi-Wan... you can go, I want to stay here," Leia cast a sideways glance over towards Luke who was watching them curiously. 

Obi-Wan nodded and turned to leave. Outside, Luke could hear the sounds of a speeder revving up. He glanced out the window and saw a speeder disappearing into the distance. He turned his attention towards the Princess, she was still watching him.

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" You know, I've beaten you before and I could have killed you," Luke pointed out, " what makes you think I won't kill you now?"

Princess Leia's expression softened as she pulled her chair closer to him, " I trust you," she replied. " You could have killed me before, but you didn't. You spared my life."

" And look where it landed me now," Luke retorted, " tied up to a chair and not being able to move because I'm still suffering from the stun effects." Leia's hurtful look sent a wave of remorse over him. Why did he care so much about her feelings? He'd hurt hundreds of people before, yet this was the first time he'd regretted his words. 

He thoughts dwindled back towards a past, when he'd been young, when he'd been alone and afraid and then being comforted. That comforting feeling had the same sense that this Princess had. He glanced up into her brown eyes, it was as if he'd known them all his life. Luke immediately pulled back, he was treading on a forbidden path. A path his father had warned him about.

It was called the lightside.

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Leia came into the hut carrying a tray of food. She smiled as Luke glanced over towards her. Despite her cheerfulness, Luke eyed her sourly. Still chained and bound, Luke hadn't moved. He was able to move and could have broken free, yet something made him stay. 

" I hope you're hungry," Leia said, laying the tray before him. " It's not exactly lean cuisine, but it'll have to do."

She fidgeted when Luke didn't answer; she walked over behind him and switched her lightsabre on. For the first time, he saw Skywalker flinch from fear. He must have thought she was going to kill him, Leia realized. She lowered the blade and sliced the bonds that held Luke. When the last rope was cut, Luke stood up and flexed his hands, he glanced suspiciously over towards her, probably wondering what she was planning. 

" Well? Aren't you hungry?" she asked, she gestured over towards the bowl of food.

Luke made no move towards the tray, he eyed her suspiciously, " how are you so sure I won't just kill you and escape?"

" You're not a prisoner here and I can defend myself pretty well," Leia replied primly. " Now are you hungry or not?"

Luke sighed and walked over towards the food, he glanced down, some sort of bread, water, some sort of orange soup and a slab of meat. He picked up a fork and poked the meat. If they wanted to drug him, then they would have done it before, Luke mused. No matter how strong he was, he still needed to eat. He dove in and munched away, Leia sat down, beside him, satisfied.

" Why do you care so much about me?" Luke asked after he finished dinner. " I've been nothing more then hateful towards you, yet you keep on pestering me, persisting that I even care an ounce about you."

Leia smiled, " I care about you because of what I know." she replied. 

Luke frowned and stared at her, what did she know about him? He pushed back away from her. He stared into her eyes, trying to drive himself into her mind. What did she know...? He drove deeper in and like a lost miner in a collapsed tunnel, it came to him like a brilliant light. 

He jerked back, startled. " Sister?!" he exclaimed. He toppled off his chair and landed on the floor, he cut his lip as it scraped across the sandy floor. He quickly jumped back onto his feet and backed away from the Princess. It scared him, to actually know there was someone else out there in the galaxy that was so close to him, especially when he didn't want it that way. 

Leia sprang to her feet and rushed up to him, her arms reaching out for him, she tried to be the comforting sister, but Luke rejected her. Pushing her away, he ran across the room, ready to flee the house when he realized that it was nearing night. He'd heard stories... rumours about Tatooine nights and how cold it could become. He'd even heard stories about people freezing to death out there. 

He glanced back helplessly over towards Leia who was once again, sitting down, she realized her mistake. She was being too smothering it was driving Luke away. Instead, she would just wait until his accepted the truth.

" How long have you known?" Luke demanded. 

" Since I was young," Leia replied, she glanced out the window; the horizon was afire from the setting suns. " Though not when we met in that playroom. When I first began my training as a Jedi, Kenobi told me the truth. He told me that my real family was still alive but I should always avoid them until I was ready to face them. He told me that I had a twin brother and an evil father. They were Imperials and dangerous and could kill me without remorse, even if I was their sister and daughter."

" You certainly took a risk, letting me know," Luke retorted, now what was he going to do? His mind spun giving him a headache. Surely the Emperor and his father would want to know about this, but for some reason, he didn't want to tell them. He wanted to protect his sister. 

Luke's face went pale as he realized what he was thinking. To not inform his father and the Emperor about this would be like betraying them. After all, Leia was a danger and letting her live would be risking everything he ever knew and believed in. 

He cried out in frustration and kicked one of Kenobi's chairs against the wall. It broke into splintered pieces. Luke jumped back, startled, not realizing how easily things could break, not realizing until now. Sensing his distress, Leia got up and wrapped her arms around him; she rested her chin on his shoulder and held him close to her. Luke didn't reject her this time he relented. It felt good to have someone to confide to. Having a sister might not be so bad after all. 

End Part Five.

Part Six: The Grand Empire

The bed that Luke slept in was not as comfortable as the ones he slept on at Imperial Centre. Though it wasn't as if he hadn't slept on anything worse before. Kenobi had been gone for quite a while and his sister predicted he would probably back in about a day or two. Luke didn't mind, he really didn't know what to think about Kenobi, his father hated him, but did it really mean he had to hate him too? Ever since he found out about his sister, he began to wonder about some of the things he believed in. 

It felt so wrong to even doubt the Empire, but still, here were these thoughts that continuously surfaced. Was it right for the Emperor to just conquer planet after planet, especially if they didn't want to become part of the Imperial government? No, the Empire was stable, it brought unity to the galaxy, maybe the people viewed the Empire badly because its leader was amoral, they didn't want to give the Empire a chance. 

Luke rolled over in his bed and grunted, he'd been like that for hours, he continuously argued with himself about the ethics of the Empire and how right it had been. He also began to contemplate his situation, he was beginning to stray away from the dark path, landing in a spot where he could become part of the lightside or go back to the darkside. He was torn between his loyalty and love for his father and his caring for his sister. 

Morning came sooner then Luke expected, he'd been awake all night. When Leia came in to wake him up, she found Luke already dressed and ready for anything. She was a bit surprised that he'd be awake this early in the morning. " Did you have a good sleep?" she asked.

Luke snorted and shoved past her, he might be opening up to her, but he still liked to act tough. " I had no sleep thanks to you."

Leia arched an eyebrow at him, " thanks to me? Well, I'm flattered that I have the power to keep men awake at night, even if he is my brother. What did I do?"

" You and your stupid philosophies," Luke growled, " I was arguing with myself all night about the glory of the Empire and the morals of the Emperor. I even began to doubt the stability that the Empire offered."

" At least it's a start," Leia mumbled, she smiled, " you may believe that the Empire is great and glorious and the Rebellion is out to destroy that glory, but we're not. We're here to save the lives of people and to free them from oppression."

" What does the people have anything to do with this?" Luke retorted.

" It is the people that form the Empire," Leia replied, " the Emperor might have had a dream in which all of the galaxy could be united into one-which I hardly believe by the way-but what was wrong about that dream was that he had no thoughts about the people. A rebellion doesn't just happen for no reason, it happens because the people are upset."

Luke sat there silently digesting this new information. He'd always thought that this pitiful rebellion only happened because they wanted power themselves. Could it be possible that it'd all started because they weren't happy with the ways of the Empire? 

NO, Luke shook his head, to think such thoughts as that would be betraying what he believed in and it would be betraying his father. His head came up when he heard the sounds of a speeder in the distance. He glanced out the window, " well there's Kenobi," he remarked. 

" Come with us," Leia said, taking a step up to him, she took his hands, " forget about the Empire and forget about Vader. You are your own man and you have to make decisions for yourself."

Luke hesitated, he glanced down at their intertwined fingers, " Leia..." he mumbled, " I-I just don't know anymore. Everything that I've believed in is now just a mess. What was once black and white is now gray and I can't understand it at all."

" It's your decision Luke," Leia murmured, " you have to make the choice whether you have the strength to be part of the light or to be part of the dark."

" I can't just betray my father," Luke persisted, he'd noted before that his sister never called Vader as her father. She'd cut her bonds from Vader or maybe there were never any bonds between them. " I still love him."

Leia gave him a quizzical look. " Is it even possible for a person to love Vader?" she whispered. " Does your father actually love you?"

Luke jerked back, pulling his hands away from her, his face became hard, " you think Vader took me in and raised me because of my powers?" he accused.

Leia glanced away, the muscles on her jawline tightening, " I never heard of Vader loving anyone before."

" He loved our mother," Luke pointed out, that much he knew, his father had always loved his mother and always cherished her memory. " And he loves me, I know it because I can feel it. Father may never say it to me, but I just know." His words sounded shallow even in his own ears. " And I love him so that much is possible." Luke added.

Leia gave him a doubtful expression, it seemed that she didn't believe him. It didn't matter if Leia didn't love his father, that she didn't even respect him, what difference would it make? Luke's head jerked to the side as he saw a figure looming outside the window. His eyes widened as he realized that figure had the same sense as the person who'd been following him on Imperial Centre. Before he could even open his mouth and warn Leia, one of Kenobi's large desks was hurled from the wall to him, it pushed him to the other side of the wall and pinned him to the ground. Luke cried out as his head bounced off the hard wall, his brain became an explosion of pain and dots began to pop in front of Luke's vision. He blinked and tried to clear his head. He could hear Leia screaming and the thundering crash as the person broke through the window. 

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Luke needed to get up and help Leia, he struggled, not even with his own strength could he lift up that desk that was crushing his legs. He could have used the Force, but his head throbbed at the thought. He hands shook as he lifted it up, it was like when he was stunned, it was so hard to move his body though this time, not because he was stunned but because he was in a world of pain. He felt the back of his head and felt the blood that gushing out of this large wound. 

There came the sounds of two lightsabres being switched on, he glanced up and saw the dark figure who was robed and had his-her?-face shrouded under a hood. The phantom figure held a lightsabre in both hands and challenged Leia. His sister responded with flicking on her own weapon, though her mind was distracted between two things, Luke and her situation. She wanted to go up and check to see if her brother was fine, but she also needed to fight this stranger. 

That was when another robed figure appeared in the doorway, holding a lightsabre. Kenobi, Luke realized. The old Jedi rushed up to the dark figure and challenged him by swinging his lightsabre, driving him/her back. 

" Leia! Get out of here!" Kenobi shouted at her, " take the droids and head for Mos Eisley. I've booked us a ship at Docking Bay 94. Hurry!"

Leia hesitated and glanced over towards her brother, " and what about Luke?"

" It's too late for him now," Obi-Wan snapped, " you need to get the plans out of here."

Leia gave her brother one more desperate glance before rushing out of the hut with the droids following her. Luke heard the sounds of a speeder and a glance out of the window showed him that she was going. Luke's anger flared and for one brief moment, everything was so clear to him. He gritted his teeth and pushed at the desk, it flew threw the air, slamming into Kenobi. The Jedi Knight, startled, was thrown to the ground and pinned with the desk on him. The robed figure approached Kenobi, brought the lightsabre down at his head, Luke could feel Kenobi's death and glanced over at where his body had once been. It was gone, leaving only the brown robe behind and his lightsabre. 

The robed figure turned away from Kenobi and approached him, now Luke could clearly see that this person was a woman. She pointed her lightsabre at his throat, Luke, exhausted by the sudden exertion in the Force, tensed and prepared for the worst. Instead, the woman flicked her blade off and pulled back the hood, revealing a pale face that was framed by brown hair and green eyes. Luke frowned, he'd never seen this woman before. 

" Thank you, Skywalker," she said softly, she reached out a hand and pulled him up. 

" Who-?" Luke never got a chance to finish his sentence. She beat him to it.

" Who am I?" she asked, Luke stared at the woman, her face was hauntingly familiar. " You may call me Katrina, daughter to the Emperor Palpatine and right now your ally in defeating him."

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Luke was visibly and mentally shocked by her sudden revelation. " Palpatine's daughter?" he exclaimed, his face became a visage of horror and disgust. To think that the Emperor would actually take a woman to bed disgusted him. *Yet he did have those concubines-no, don't even think about it,* Luke reminded himself.

A corner of the girl's lips twitched. " Are you so horrified? Do you think Palpatine would not have thought about creating his own Force users, people who would be so loyal to him because they had a strong lineage?"

" Well... I guess now that you mention it..." Luke trailed off, not able to finish his sentence. He stared at her up and down, she was beautiful, not like her father. Yet her eyes, though they were green, reminded him of Palpatine, those eyes that could read souls. Katrina was probably only a year or two younger then he was." Though of course, you mentioned killing him so I don't really think his plan worked."

" Palpatine was an idiot," she snapped, " He thought his own children would be loyal to him because he was our father, just like you and your father, but he was missing one thing."

" Love?" Luke asked. Katrina nodded.

" Yes, that's it, he never loved us, never gave us the respect we deserved. I was sired two years after you were born. Palpatine knew about you, he knew where you lived and knew that you could be powerful. He wanted an army of Force strong servants, so he brought you to Imperial Centre, but in a way that would not arouse suspicion."

Luke's brow furrowed, he stared at her, " what do you mean? I ended up at Imperial Centre because one of my foster families brought me there."

" And what happened to them?" Katrina inquired.

" They died," Luke replied, he shrugged, " they had some sort of fatal disease or something, I was young then, I don't really remember much."

" And the family before that?" Katrina asked.

" They died too, I think it was a Tusken Raider attack," Luke replied, he ran a hand through his hair. 

" And you think all that has happened to you was nothing more then coincidence?" Katrina said sardonically, she shook her head, " you're an idiot Skywalker to even believe it so foolishly."

Luke's eyes widened, what Katrina was saying seemed impossible, yet it seemed impossible for it to be anything else. All that had happened to him to bring him before the Emperor... was nothing more then some sort elaborate set up. He shivered at the sudden revelation, he was nothing more then a pawn in Palpatine's game, he disliked that thought. All his life he'd been nothing more then someone else's puppet, to be used and to be controlled by. From the Emperor to that revolting Princess. Yes, she was the worse of them, actually having him believe that she loved him, just to use him for her own ends. She almost had him, she would have had him too if Katrina hadn't come and interrupted them. 

" The only thing that had been an accident," Katrina said, giving him a sideways glance, " was your meeting with Darth Vader. The Emperor never meant for you to meet him, that was where his plan went awry."

" Then why did he let me stay with Vader?" Luke pointed out, his knees felt weak, he needed to sit and his head was throbbing like hell, " if he planned for me to be one of his little servants, how come he let me stay with him?" Inwardly, Luke already knew the answer. 

" With Vader already knowing about your existence, it would have been dangerous to separate father and son. And before he could have been able to really meet you and to have started training you, your loyalty was already attached to Vader," she got up and brushed the glass of her robes, which was starting to cut into her flesh, " when he realized this, he knew that it was too late for his first plan to happen, he excluded you from it, but decided to keep you around because of your powers. You are a powerful being, Skywalker and to have you killed off with be a waste of talent-and the Emperor is never one to waste a resource."

She took off her robe, realizing that it was useless, covered with glass shards. Underneath, she wore a black tunic that brought out the colour of her bright eyes. " Instead of having you part of his little army, he decided to use you as a test subject. He wanted to see how powerful the child of Skywalker and another Force user would be, originally, I was supposed to be the host, but I wasn't up to keep on his little list. His own daughter." Her lips bared back in a snarl. " Ultimately, his first plan failed, his children turned against him, he destroyed most of them, but as you can see, some of us have fled. He killed my brothers and sisters." 

Luke felt revulsed, how sick could Palpatine be, he realized how wrong he'd been about him. If the Emperor was supposed to be the heart of the Empire, then that meant the rest of the Empire was as sick and disgusting as its heart. He'd been serving nothing more then a corrupt system filled with revolting sycophants. The glory that was once the Empire was nothing more then a dream in Luke's field of idealism. Now that he saw it, his dream was shattered. No... not shattered, his dream for a perfect Empire wasn't shattered, it'd just never been realized, until now.

" So why have you come to me?" Luke demanded, he was getting a headache, it distracted him from the present situation.

" I've been watching you for some time now, Luke, I've felt your power," she sat down beside him and took his hand, soothing his pain. " I need your power to destroy the Emperor."

His lips twisted back in a sadistic grin, " ah, revenge. That I'm good at." If his dream of a glorious Empire was to come, then he would have to get rid of the heart and build a new one. He would form a new Empire and his father would rule, together they could reform the galaxy and make the people happy by ending their misery.

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Docking Bay 94 and the ship inside that had greeted Leia when she first stepped into it. She was surprised and revulsed, it was an old Corellian freighter that was circular in shape with two prongs at the front and a cockpit that jutted out from the side. It looked as if someone had pasted its parts together and whoever did it, pasted the thing badly. 

A person came underneath the ship, covered in grease and oil, a Corellian, she realized, *of course, a Corellian captain for a Corellian ship* she thought wryly. Not only that, but they both looked as cruddy. 

" And who may this charming young lady be?" the Corellian asked, he grinned at her and held out a hand. 

Leia stared at it disdainfully, but accepted it, " My... teacher booked a charter with this ship."

" Ah yeah, the old man," his face contorted into arrogance, " he mentioned you. Said that if you came here alone then that meant he was busy and that I should take you to Alderaan instead."

A pang of guilt and pain surged through Leia. She'd left behind her teacher and her brother and now she was alone once again. She hoped they were both alright but who was she fooling? She knew that her teacher was dead, she'd felt it. 

She raised her chin, " then take me to Alderaan," she snapped, " I don't have the time to waste."

" Well excuse me, sister," he snorted, " who do you think are? The Viceroy of Alderaan or something?"

The side of Leia's lips twitched, " no, but pretty close." She gestured for her droids to follow her as she marched on board the Falcon.

" The name's Han by the way, if you really wanted to know!" he shouted after her.

Leia stopped at the top of the ramp and turned to face him, " Call me Leia." She disappeared inside the Falcon.

Han turned to face Chewbacca who'd snuck up behind him, though for a Wookiee, sneaking up behind someone was a rather impossible task, since a person could smell them a mile away before they could see them. He gave Chewie a wry look, " Leia? Doesn't the Princess of Alderaan have the same name?"

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Luke sat on board Katrina's ship, the Shadow Hand, it wasn't exactly one of your comfort ships, but it would do for their trip. It also had a suitable hook up to the holonet and communication nets. Using the proper Imperial codes, Luke could hack in just about anything. 

" Find anything useful yet?" Katrina asked, she sat on a bunk behind him, looking bored and tired. 

" Almost," Luke muttered, barely giving her a sideways glance.

" Why can't we just go to Imperial Centre and kill the Emperor there?" Katrina asked, " why do we have to search the net for... who knows what?"

" Because it's not the way of an agent," Luke replied, " nor is it the way of a Sith Lord. I have higher rank then you, Katrina, so shut your mouth. I've almost found something. The Emperor told me a couple of weeks ago that he was planning a trip to Alderaan, I want to see if he's there yet, killing him on Alderaan would be easier on Imperial Centre, plus, the trip is shorter."

Behind him, he could feel Katrina shrugging. " Okay, here it is," he said, he pushed the chair away and stretched. " He's just left Imperial Centre and left the planet in the charge Sate Pestage. If we hurry, we can make it to Alderaan while he's there on vacation and kill him."

" I hope you have a better plan then that," Katrina said as she got up and headed for the cockpit.

" Don't worry, I'll think of one along the way," Luke reassured her as he joined her. He shot her a grin as he took the captain's chair.

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* Forgive me Luke, * Leia thought as she glanced back at the disappearing world of Tatooine, *I did what I had to do. *

A wailing alarm brought Leia's attention back to the present. She stood behind Han Solo in the cockpit watching him as he blasted off Tatooine. She frowned, " what's wrong?" she asked.

" Imperial Star Destroyers up ahead," Han grunted as he pressed a sequence of levers and switches. " Don't know why they're here though, don't worry, they've got nothing against us. At least this time, or cargo is legit."

Leia's face became pale, " maybe not," she murmured as one of the Star Destroyers closed in on the Falcon. 

A voice filled with static crackled over the comm, " unidentified vessel, prepare to be boarded."

Han leaned forward and pressed a switch, " uh sure, sir. Just give us a minute." He switched off the comm and put the Falcon in neutral.

" No!" Leia exclaimed, nearly making both Han and Chewbacca jump out of their seats. " You can't let them board us! We... don't have the time, we need to get to Alderaan."

Han stared at Leia, " why do I get the feeling that you're not telling us the truth?"

" Listen," she said softly, " you can't let the Imperials see me or get to me. I need to get to Alderaan. Please Han."

The Corellian smuggler paused before nodding, " fine, all right, but you'll have to pay me double at the end."

" I don't care!" Leia exclaimed. " Just get us out of here."

" Can do," Han replied, he pulled a switch forward and immediately the Falcon responded by blasting forward, Leia cried out as she fell back form the momentum of the sudden leap. Though apparently the Millennium Falcon wasn't fast enough to invade the Imperial Star Destroyers. Leia's eyes strained as she noticed specks dropping out of a Star Destroyer in the distance. Her eyes widened as she realized those specks were.

" TIE fighters-" 

" I see it!" Han snapped as he veered the Falcon to the left to avoid an incoming fighter. Its laser bolts flashing. Han cursed as another wave of fighters came, scorching the Falcon with their laser blasts. Han glanced over towards his Wookiee friend, taking his eyes off the view port and scanners. " Chewie come on, set the co-ordinates for the jump!"

Leia's eyes widened as she realized where the Corellian Captain was flying to, " Han you're flying us right into the tractor-" It was too late, the ship rocked, telling Leia that they were caught. She winced as the tractor pulled them in closer to the Star Destroyer and finally docked them. She closed her eyes and her presence in the Force, for what she knew about this Star Destroyer was that Vader was on it.

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" Lord Vader?"

Darth Vader had been standing on the bridge of the Phantasm, the ship that his son had commanded before disappearing. After hearing about the disappearance of his son, Vader had come out to Tatooine to investigate the situation. Only he found nothing, none of the troopers could tell him anything. His son wasn't dead, Vader knew that much.

He turned to face a junior officer who stood erect, the sweat on his brow told Vader just how nervous he was. " What is it?" he snapped. The little patience he had was already worn. Put enough pressure on it, and he would snap. After three hours of being subjected to incompetent subordinates he had about enough.

The officer swallowed hard and held out a datapad for him, " we've captured a Corellian freighter that had tried to escape."

" And why should this be of any interest to me?" 

" One of the passengers is Princess Leia, who was supposedly to have been on board that Rebel ship," the officer replied.

Vader's head came up at this after hours of searching he finally had a clue. Perhaps that Princess knew what happened to his son. Though he wouldn't expect her to be his answer. " Put her in one of the detention cells," he replied, " I'll speak with her later."

The officer bowed, " of course, Lord Vader." He turned to carry out the orders of the Dark Lord.

Vader took in a deep breath; perhaps he would find his son after all.

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Leia sat in the detention cell, her hands sore from having them just recently cuffed with tight restraints. This was all Han's fault. If he hadn't been so arrogant or at least paid attention to where he was going, then she wouldn't be here. She wouldn't be stuck as a prisoner on the same ship as Vader, her... she closed her eyes. She wouldn't say father. True perhaps he was the one that gave her life, but he'd never been there for her. Her real father was Bail Organa and that was it. She didn't know what Luke saw in the Dark Lord. 

She stared at her hands, they once held a lightsabre, but now that had been taken away from her, along with the droids. She hoped that the Imperials had the decency to not melt the droids down. Poor Han and Chewbacca though, the arrogant Corellian had tried to shoot his way out, stupid of him to think that those plans would ever work. Ultimately, Han had been shot down and she'd heard that the two were being sent to the spice mines of Kessel. Somehow, she didn't really feel sorry for them.

She glanced up as the doors to the detention cell slid open and in stepped the Dark Lord of the Sith. She pressed back, but held her chin up. Whatever Vader was going to do to her, she would be ready. The door behind Vader slid shut.

" Princess Organa, what a surprise to see you here," Vader rumbled, " I suppose you already know the reason why I'm here."

She glared at him, " perhaps we can end the guessing games, Lord Vader. I was never good at them." If she didn't know better then, she could have sworn that Vader was laughing at her from behind that mask. She suppressed a shiver, the very thought of him having a sense of humour was absurd.

" Very well then, we drop the pretenses," Vader said, he took a step forward, making Leia inch back, normally, Vader hated pleasantries, but in Princess Leia's case, he liked to see how well she could keep the game up, " I am here to find out where my son, Dark Lord Luke Skywalker has gone to. He's disappeared days ago while capturing your freighter, the Tantive IV."

" Luke Skywalker?" Leia repeated the name and pressed back all thoughts of her brother. " I've met him a couple of times, but I don't know where he's gone to."

" Lying to a Dark Lord is unwise, Organa. Especially since we can tell when a person is doing it," Vader said darkly, he took another step forward, " now tell me where Skywalker is."

Leia felt almost compelled to tell him, his Force command pushing at her to tell the truth. It was strong and she was barely able to resist it. " Your son is safe for now," she snapped. " Though I wouldn't worry about him since Luke can certainly take care of himself."

" You should really watch what you say, Princess," Vader snapped. " Don't think I'll let you off this easy." He turned and left the prison cell. Leia collapsed; her strength was barely able to hold her. How well was she going to fare with the Dark Lord next time?

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" So you've captured the Rebel Princess," said the Emperor via the Holonet. His large deformed face hovered over Vader, who kneeled before him.

" Yes, my master, though I have found no clue about my son's whereabouts," the Vader said.

" Forget about Skywalker," the Emperor said, " his use is not needed for now. He is well and alive, surely you know that much about your own son, Lord Vader."

" I do, Master," Vader said, it was an insult of course, Vader knew, but he could take insults as well as praises from his Master fairly well. After finding the Princess, the Emperor had demanded to speak to him. Already was he at Alderaan, for what reason, Vader didn't know. 

" For now, Lord Vader your services are needed on board the Death Star, you can bring the Princess with you. Grand Moff Tarkin is to meet me here at Alderaan with the Death Star in tow," the Emperor paused and stared right at Vader this time, " I want you on the Death Star to ensure that the Grand Moff won't take his new found power too much to heart."

" Governor Tarkin will suffice well enough on his own," Vader said, he didn't want to stop his search when he'd barely begun it. " He is a loyal man to the Empire-"

" Do you doubt my orders, Lord Vader?" the Emperor asked, arching what was once an eyebrow at him. 

" Of course not, Master," Vader mumbled.

" Good," the Emperor said, he cackled, " do not worry about young Skywalker. He is fine." With that the transmission ended. Vader quickly got back onto his feet, wherever Luke was, he could wait a couple of more days. The Emperor and the Princess were both right, his son was a grown man now and could take care of himself. He had to stop worrying about Luke. He realized that he hadn't told the Emperor about the Princess and her Force strength.

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Leia's heart began to thump wildly as she stepped on board the Death Star with Vader behind him. She'd heard about it, but not until she saw it did she realize how menacing it really was. Her face contorted into disgust as she saw a familiar figure waiting for her, standing at the end of the corridor.

" Ah, Lord Vader, Princess Leia, it is a pleasure to meet you two," he said, smiling smoothly as his eyes glanced down at the princess. 

" A pleasure indeed," Leia snapped. " Only a sadistic fool would think of building such a horrific contraption as this station has become." Behind her, she felt Vader's humour lighten, he would have been laughing at the moment if wanted too. 

" A horrific contraption, perhaps," Tarkin said, still smiling smoothly, but Leia could see the lines on his face tighten, " but the Empire's greatest weapon. With the Death Star in our pocket, no one in the galaxy would dare defy the Emperor."

" I find it unbelievable that you can actually put this thing in your pocket," Leia said sarcastically.

" It was an expression, my dear," Tarkin admonished, " if you are the best that the Rebellion can offer, then I'm afraid it's doomed."

" Not even the Death Star can amount to the power of the Force," Leia snapped, " the more you destroy, the more death that will weigh on your shoulders."

" Sacrifices must be made, Princess, to achieve the glory of the Empire," Tarkin replied, he gestured for the guards.

" Don't think you've won, Tarkin, the Force will not tolerate such abuse to life!" Leia snapped.

Vader stepped up to Tarkin, " she is right Tarkin, this battle station you have built serve no real ends to the Empire except to destroy."

" This battle station will ensure the Emperor's hold over the military," Tarkin replied. " And why is it that you've come, Vader? Usually, a Dark Lord of the Sith wouldn't bother himself with new Imperial weapons."

" I have come on the Emperor's behalf," Vader replied, " I'm here to send you a message that the Emperor wishes for the Death Star to be sent to Alderaan. He wishes to see his new weapon himself."

Tarkin stiffened before nodding, " all right, if that's what the Emperor wishes then we will go to Alderaan."

Leia's face turned pale, it didn't take a genius to know what they planned to do at Alderaan. She grew angry, reaching out with the Force, she pulled the buckle on Tarkin's belt apart. Immediately, with no support holding it up, his pants fell, luckily for Tarkin, he wore a pair of boxers underneath his pants. His face grew red with anger.

" Vader!" he snapped as he pulled his pants up.

Vader suppressed an urge to chuckle and gestured for the guards to take the Princess away.

" Princess Organa is a formiddable force-one you should not underestimate," Vader replied, following the guards.

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" We have you on screen, unidentified vessel," a voice crackled over the comm. " Transmit your clearance code and state your reason for docking."

Luke smiled and began transmitting a code the Emperor had given him, it was so great to use the Emperor's own technology against him. " Our ship is in need of repairs," Luke replied, " and we can't seem to identify the source of the problem."

There was a slight pause before the officer on the other side of the comm answered, shocked out of his mind at the high priority code that Luke had given him. " Of course, sir! You may dock immediately, just following the homing beacon."

" Sure," Luke said nonchalantly as he guided Katrina's ship towards the Death Star. He turned off the comm and glanced over towards his copilot who looked rather uneasy.

" I heard about it," she murmured, staring at the huge battlestation, " but why is it here? In the Alderaan system?"

" Isn't it obvious?" Luke asked, " Alderaan has just recently announced its allegiance to the Alliance. I don't think the Empire is going to just let that slip by." He had to admit, he'd been shocked too, to see the Death Star orbiting Alderaan like that. The switch of a couple buttons of levers could send Alderaan into oblivion. Not that Luke cared anymore, after what the Princess had done to him, he would have been glad to give the order himself. " The transmission between my father and the Emperor confirms it, he's coming to the Death Star."

Katrina's lips twisted back, " transmission?"

Luke grinned sheepishly, " you'll find that it's a very good idea for agents to know something about slicing before they tackle the net. I hacked into my father and the Emperor's transmission."

The daughter of Palpatine sighed and leaned back against her chair, " well it's too bad he didn't just stay on planet, that way we could have shot the super laser ourselves."

" That's why I know Alderaan's going to be destroyed," Luke replied as the ship landed in the hanger. He glanced out of the cockpit, there were a couple of Imperials, but he was fairly certain he could shield themselves from the Imperials and distract them while they made their getaway. " You ready?" he asked as he got up, clipping on his lightsabre and blaster in the process.

" You bet I am," Katrina retorted, all she had was her lightsabre, nothing more. 

As Luke lowered the ramp and stepped off, followed by Katrina, he reached out through the Force and made the Imperials glance the other way. It was a fairly easy trick if one knew how to do it properly. Immediately, Katrina grabbed his hand, and opened herself to the Force. Their two minds linked through the Force. Her powers in the Force refreshed Luke, giving him enough strength to flee. They ran out of the hanger bay with amazing speed, they seemed like blurs to the untrained eyes. 

When the hanger bay doors slid shut behind him, Luke and Katrina began wandering down the halls with all the gall and confidence of an Imperial. They did their little charade so well that no one even gave them a second glance. Luke frowned, this feeling he had with Katrina was so much like the one he had with Mara. They both complemented each other and worked together so well. 

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Vader stopped in mid-stride as he entered the hanger bay. That presence he'd just felt, it was unmistakable, it was Luke. His feelings began to stir, his mind whirring a mile a minute. Luke was on board the Death Star, he realized, but for what reason? He frowned and pursed his lips, he realized that the Emperor's shuttle had nearly landed. Vader hurried and stopped along with Tarkin and other Imperial Delegates just in front of the shuttle. The ramp lowered, the Emperor's Royal Guards strolled down, their red robes flapping around their legs as they moved into formation. Then came the Evil Master himself, garbed in the usual black robes with his hood pulled over his face. 

The Dark Lord and all the others surrounding him immediately kneeled, the Emperor went up to Vader and touched him on the shoulder, " rise my friend." He said gesturing for him to follow. Vader immediately fell in step beside the Emperor. He glanced over his shoulder and saw at that moment, Mara Jade getting off the shuttle. So the Emperor had brought her here too. 

The Emperor grinned and glanced around him, " ah yes, my vision is complete. Now the Death Star has become the ultimate weapon that the Empire could have ever conceived."

" Yes my master," Vader mumbled, he disagreed with the Emperor, but there was no need to voice his discrepancies to him... not here and now. Perhaps when they were in private. 

" You have something to tell me, Lord Vader?" the Emperor asked, turning his head to regard his servant, " perhaps of the Rebel Princess?"

Vader's head came up, how in the galaxy did the Emperor know? His powers in the Force were beyond belief, Vader knew this, without Luke, he would have no chance in destroying the Emperor. " Yes, the Princess of Alderaan, Leia Organa has been captured."

" Ah yes, and what about her?"

" I've found out that she is Force sensitive," Vader replied, " an already trained Jedi."

The Emperor gave a nod, " yes, the Rebel Princess would have to be strong in the Force. Leave her to me, Lord Vader. I will take care of her."

" Yes, master," Vader replied. He bit his tongue, somehow, it didn't feel right to just hand the princess over to him.

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Both Luke and Katrina were rushing down a corridor when she suddenly stopped. Her eyes glazed over as she stared up at the ceiling. " What is it?" Luke asked, he frowned. 

" The Emperor," she whispered, " he's here." 

Both she and Luke exchanged grinning glances before rushing forward. " No doubt," Luke said as he glanced up at the ceiling, there were vents all about the place, big enough to fit a person, " that the Emperor would be going to his throne room. I've never been on the Death Star before, but I've seen a couple of maps. Not that I can memorize them though, but I'm sure I can find a way up there without being detected."

As they rounded a corner, they stopped and realized their mistake as they run into a room full of Storm Troopers. Both Luke and Katrina jumps back, surprised, though this momentarily lapse of concentration lasts only for about of second before they whipped their lightsabres out. The Storm Troopers themselves jump back in surprise, but seeing that these new intruders were armed, they register the two as hostile. They began to open fire. 

Luke and Katrina immediately jumped out of the room and take cover behind the walls. Luke gritted his teeth, being on the defensive didn't keep a person alive. He needed to get rid of his enemies, but there were too many of them. He nodded over towards Katrina and pointed towards his lightsabre. She seemed to have gotten the message, Katrina jumped forward and more shots rang out on her, she deflected the bolts back towards the shooters while Luke jumped behind her, using her as a shield as he began picking off Storm Troopers. It felt strange to be shooting his own men, but they were only Storm Troopers. 

The battle was over only a couple of minutes, Katrina collapsed, falling onto her knees. She sighed and switched off her lightsabre. " You see now why the Emperor didn't want me," she said wiping sweat off her brow. " I can't last that long in battle."

" Not everybody has to fight to be useful," Luke said, taking her hand and helping her back up. His hands tingled at her touch, fighting this close to her brought up certain emotions that he thought he could only feel with Mara. If he couldn't love Mara then why couldn't he love Katrina? He cupped her face in his hands and brought her lips forward, kissing her with the left over passion of battle. She responded by wrapping her arms around his waist and opening herself to him. What Luke felt and saw would have scared him, she was like a pit of darkness, she was as evil as her father, Luke realized as he linked his mind with hers. He felt like he was falling into her darkness, yet he didn't care, instead, he thrived on it. Her darkness was new... so passionate and so full of power. He wanted it, he wanted that kind of power. He knew of the darkside and used it himself, but never had he gone so deeply into it.

He pushed her away and clips his blaster back onto his belt, " come on," he said, " we can't stay here long. If we want to kill the Emperor, then we should get moving." He turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Katrina behind to catch up with him.

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Leia was marched into the Emperor's throne room, her hands bound in cuffs and with Vader following her. She shivered as she felt the Emperor's dark presence. It was so powerful and so cold. His very presence in the Force was like touching ice and... something darker, he was like the coldness of a black hole, his soul sucking in everything, nothing could escape him.

She glanced around her, there were Royal Guards everywhere, there was no chance to escape especially with Vader and Tarkin and... this other girl. She had red hair and was dressed in a black jump-suit. Leia frowned, who was this girl? She'd never seen her before.

The Emperor's chair which had been turned away from her, now revolved to face Leia. She shivered at the sight of his leering face. She held her composure though, no matter how afraid she was, she was not going to let anyone else see it. Vader who stood behind her, pushed her forward.

" Your Highness," Leia said curtly, she managed to make the honorific seem like an insult. 

" Princess Leia Organa," the Emperor returned, Leia's eyes darted up to the window behind the Emperor and recognized the planet that hung behind him. " What a pleasure it is to see you again."

" I'm sure it is," Leia said sardonically, " why have I been brought here, Your Highness?"

" I'm certain you know that answer already, my young Jedi," the Emperor said. He grinned when he saw the Princess fidget. " It is a well known thing that you are part of the Rebellion, Princess, and I demand to know where this Hidden Rebel Base is located."

" I will not betray my people," Leia snapped.

" Oh really? Interesting that you would say that," the Emperor gestured outside his window, " the view of your planet is quite magnificent from here. Alderaan is a beautiful planet... but it is a threat to the glory of the Empire."

" Alderaan has done nothing-" Leia began but was cut off when the Emperor gave her a glare. 

" Alderaan has publicly announced its allegiance to the Rebellion," the Emperor retorted, " and I will enjoy watching it be destroyed."

Leia's eyes widened, " no!" she exclaimed, she knew this would happen, " you can't destroy Alderaan! What will the people say!?"

" As you have realized, Princess, what the people say does not matter to me," the Emperor cackled, " though will give you a chance to save your planet. Tell me where the Rebel Base is and I will spare it."

Leia pursed her lips and grew silent. Palpatine leaned forward, " Am I recalling things incorrectly, but wasn't it only a moment go when you said you would not betray your people?" He laughed, he knew what kind of a situation he'd placed the Princess in and he revelled in it.

The Princess glanced over towards Vader, her father, maybe she had a chance, " how can you let this happen?" she demanded. " Can't you stop him?"

Vader was silent, he glanced over towards Leia, her pleading look was so much like the expression that Padme had on her face when she pleaded with him to stay away from Palpatine. This was not his decision, he didn't have to power to save Alderaan. 

" I grow tired of waiting, Princess," Palpatine said, the lines on his face creasing. 

Leia hung her head, she loved Alderaan more then anything in the galaxy, she couldn't let it be destroyed. She opened her mouth but before anything could be said or done, she heard someone shouting, it was a war cry she realized. She glanced up and saw two figures dropping from the ceiling. As they fell, they switched their lightsabres on and brought it down on two of the Royal Guards. Leia realized that it was Luke and that robed figure. They'd somehow positioned themselves to slice the guards upon descent. 

Two more guards charged towards Luke, who quickly dodged the thrusted force pikes. He responded with a swipe of his sword, bisecting one in the mid section and cutting the head off another. There were two more Royal Guards rushed towards them, the female with the brown hair and green eyes sliced their legs off and then their heads. Tarkin took a step forward and held a blaster out, Mara Jade responded by taking her own lightsabre out and slicing his arm off. Tarkin cried out in pain, though his scream was short, Mara chopped his head off. Holding her lightsabre in both hands, she rushes up to join Luke by his side. Both he and Mara exchange knowing glances. Four more of the Royal Guard advance, but to their surprise, the Emperor held his hand up.

" Stop," he ordered, giving the guards meaningful looks. He laughed and smiled down at his three apprentices. " Ah, young Skywalker, do you think you actually have the power to take me on?"

" Perhaps I do," Luke replied, " but I am here to cut out the heart of the Empire. In recent days, I've had a lot epiphanies, one of them being that the glorious Empire I've once believed in wasn't as glorious as I thought. So I've come here to fix that problem and that would be you, Emperor Palpatine." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Royal Guards getting closer. He smiled, good, he did like to have some action, he saw Mara stepping up towards them. She could handle four of them, Luke realized. But for now, he had to handle something else. He pivoted on one thought and brought his lightsabre around in a horizontal arc, slicing Katrina, gutting her across the stomach. She screamed in pain as she collapsed. 

" Why?" she growled in anger, holding onto her wound. 

Luke stood over her, there was no remorse in his eyes, " I could never see you being part of the glorious Empire." He brought his lightsabre down, decapitating her, releasing darkside energy.

The Emperor laugh and stood up, " good, young Skywalker, finally you have begun to see the power of the darkside." Vader immediately left Leia alone and took position behind the Emperor, who was so confident of Vader's loyalty towards him, that he never paid attention to the Dark Lord.

" See it?" Luke grinned, " I've felt it in a way I've never had." He stepped up to the Emperor and brought his lightsabre up to the Emperor's throat. Another step and he would have been able to cut Palpatine's head off. A cold look came over the Emperor's eyes as he realized that young Skywalker was not falling towards the darkside the way he would have liked. Skywalker's loyalties did not fall towards him. 

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Instantly, Luke was pushed back, he was flung across the room, he hit the far wall before sliding down to the ground. Both Mara and Leia cried out his name. Guards began to advance towards young Skywalker. The Guards, with their attention focused on Luke, did not notice red headed shadow that ran up behind them, with her lightsabre in hand, she swung it, taking down two guards at a time before they could react. Their pieces fell to the ground. Luke glanced up at Mara and gave her a salute. He was suddenly hit back again, but this time, not by a Force push, but by arching, blue lightning that had him backed up against the wall. He cried out in pain as the pulses of energy coursed through his body, touching every muscle, every nerve. 

" No!" Leia exclaimed, she jumped in front of the blue lightning, the electricity coursed through her body, she cried out in pain and collapsed onto the ground. Luke this time, fuelled by anger, was able to get up onto his feet. He watched as the Emperor lanced at Leia with all of his might. He cried out as he felt her pain, she writhed on the floor. With his eyes watering, more from hurt then from pain, he grabbed his lightsabre and charged at the Emperor. Luke came at him, lightsabre raised, the Emperor sent a volley of lightning in Luke's direction. Unable to withstand another jolt, Luke fell back, he coughed and and took in deep breaths, trying hard to fight back the pain. That was when Vader stepped in front of Luke, his lightsabre raised, he caught most of the bolts on his blade. Luke blinked and quickly fought to suppress the pain, his father would not be able to withstand the power of the Emperor for long. Gripping tightly onto his own weapon, he stood up and switched it back on. He locked blades with his father, now electricity course through both blades, both he and his father marched forward. Vader tapping into the Force to give Luke the energy and strength he would need. 

When they were only a couple of metres away from the Emperor, Luke stretched out with the Force, calling up a shield and followed as his father rushed towards the Emperor. The shield absorbed the blue energy, protecting his father. He brought down the red blade, slicing the Emperor and releasing his dark powers. Luke was thrown back by the explosion of blue flames. Someone caught him, he glanced up and saw that it was his father. The flames whirled around the throne room, almost ready to create a storm, but finally died down. Nothing was left of the Emperor. 

Luke glanced up and saw his father glancing back down at him. Luke immediately inched away from his father and got onto his knees. " I pledge my allegiance to you, father, Emperor Vader."

" You've done well, my son," Vader said, touching Luke on the shoulder and helping him back onto his feet. Luke's knees felt like they were about to collapse from under him. Without his father's strength filling him now, he felt exhausted. He leaned against his father for support, he glanced down at Leia, her face was contorted in pain. His sister was dead, he realized with pain. He loved her until the end, but he'd been so angered. She sacrificed her life to save him. 

The door to the throne room slid open as Generals and Admirals rushed in with Storm Troopers to see what the commotion was all about. Their eyes widened at the scene that was held before them. Mara straightened, knowing that Luke was too tired to speak and Vader would just mess things up. She took a step forward, " I am Mara Jade, former servant to the now deceased Emperor. I'm afraid... that there was a certain mishap, Lord Vader is your new Emperor now."

" Vader-?" one of the Admiral exclaimed, he glanced over towards the Dark Lord and realized his mistake. Luke straightened up and hobbled over towards the Imperial delegates.

" Emperor Vader will is the rightful successor to Palpatine," he snapped, he pointed to the ground, " bow before your new Emperor." 

The Admirals visibly hesitated but eventually dropped to their knees. " Emperor Vader," they said in unison. " What are your orders?"

Vader glanced over towards Luke and took a step forward, " my first order is for my son, Lord Skywalker to be treated."

" Not yet," Luke said, holding his hand up, " first of all, Alderaan has to be destroyed, it is a threat to the Empire. And take the Princess to the infirmary, she needs treatment."

" At once, Lord Skywalker," the Admiral gestured over towards one of the Storm Troopers. He picked the Princess up. Without anymore instructions, the squad an the Admirals, turned on their heels and rushed out, leaving the trio in the savaged throne room. 

Luke at that moment, collapsed, he gasped out in pain and coughed up blood, he closed his eyes and focused on suppressing the pain. " Mara... help me stand up," he whispered. Immediately he felt someone take his hand, he glanced up and saw her. She smiled wearily at him and brought him close to her. " My loyalties stand with you, Skywalker," she whispered. " When you are Emperor I will be your Hand and will serve you." She wiped the blood off his lips.

Luke smiled despite the pain he was in. There were so many things to be done, like insuring Vader's rise to the throne and taking care of a certain Falleen Prince as soon as they went back to Imperial Centre. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Vader was already out the door. He lifted a hand and caressed her cheek, she wasn't as worn or as battered as he was, but he could tell that she was tired. " I never had the chance to say this before... but I love you Mara. I've always loved you."

She smiled and leaned forward, kissing him, she didn't mind the bloody aftertaste, nor how grimy his hands were. " I love you too, Luke," she whispered and hugged him, holding him close to her. " Now come on," she said, standing up, " we've got to get you to a medic before you collapse again."


End file.
